Repeating Days-Jurassic
by ScorpioSmile
Summary: They've both been chosen to explore an island that is home to creatures that were thought to be extinct. In order to stay safe, they must work together. Sounds simple. What's going to make things difficult?... Their hatred towards one another.
1. Chapter 1-Discovery

**Hi guys! Its finally here! My new story that I kept going on about! Okay so look even though you guys deserve an abundance of apologies, I can only manage a measly 'sorry' since its really late and I have school tomorrow and guess what... Exams begin tomorrow too! Ugh, fuck me.. Anyway, here is the first chapter. Let me know what you think and I will say some other stuff at the end of this chap.**

 **Read on...**

* * *

Pangaea - You know that supercontinent.

It split apart into landmasses. The northern half of it was known as Laurentia. Laurentia formed North America and Eurasia. This in turn opened basins for the Central Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. The Southern half of Pangaea, Gondwana, drifted into an eastern segment that gave us Antarctica, Madagascar, India and Australia. A western portion formed Africa and South America. Along with the splitting of landmasses, warmer global temperatures also occurred around this time.

Now what wasn't mentioned in that fuckin' boring paragraph above is that Pangaea began to drift apart during the Jurassic Period, approximately 145 million years ago.

I know what you're thinking right now.

 _Dinosaurs._

Who wouldn't think of that after hearing the word 'Jurassic'?

Anyway, during the Jurassic Period, dinosaurs were the dominant animal species. They walked the earth, ruled the skies and prowled the waters. Big, small, medium, whatever, they came in all shapes and sizes. It's a given that they were spectacular creatu-... _Are_ spectacular creatures...

You heard right.

 _Are._

As in these amazing animals _still_ walk the earth. They _still_ rule the skies. They _still_ prowl the waters. I don't mean their relatives such as birds and crocodiles. No. I mean actual _living_ , _breathing_ dinosaurs.

Where?

On an island far from everything that we know.

You would think that with all the research and information hungry scientists out there, this island would have been a big deal throughout the world.

Well something cannot really be a big deal if it is hidden and doesn't appear on any map known to man.

But...

There's always a 'but' huh?

This island is hidden, yes. _But_ that doesn't mean it cannot be found.

And just because something can be _found_ , it doesn't mean that you would want it to turn into a big deal throughout the world like mentioned earlier. Sometimes you want it to stay the way you found it.

 _Hidden._

* * *

Allyson Marie Dawson was not one to be late. She was usually the person who would chastise _others_ for being late. It's not really her fault though. She was long overdue for an upgrade on her almost ancient cell phone and she couldn't help that her alarm hadn't gone off.

Okay, maybe it _is_ her fault for relying on a cell that was almost as old as the dinosaur remains that she worked with but still. She held firm that it was merely a case of bad luck and in true Ally Dawson fashion; she entered the Research Facility (Generation Rex – 'GenRex') with her head held high and sauntered into the laboratory.

She had recently turned twenty three years old and is quite the looker.

Her brunette hair always hung in thick, rich and chocolaty waves, framing her face that was home to a pair of the most expressive eyes that you would ever have the pleasure of locking gazes with. Her skin, free of any blemishes whatsoever, held a somewhat milky complexion.

No, not the sickly pale kind; the kind that, if focusing on her face, would flush red if she were to get angry or embarrassed and still manage to keep her looking as beautiful as ever. Her slightly plump lips, usually falling prey to her teeth whenever she is deep in thought, were seemingly always in a slight pout.

And not the kind that makes you look like a duck, no. For Ally Dawson, it worked. Given that the look is completely natural.

She's a petite woman. But what she lacks in size, she more than makes up for it in attitude.

And curves. She's got some serious curves.

With her lab coat adorning her body, she strolled over to her friend and boss, Dezmond Worthy Wade. The copper topped man was bent over a tank that was currently housing two baby alligators.

The position looked slightly awkward since Dez is so damn tall.

Ally was about to greet the man but was cut off when he spoke.

"You're almost twenty minutes late."

Ally blew out a puff of air and rolled her eyes, having heard the teasing tone of her boss's voice. "Good morning to you too, Dez."

The man who had been cooing at the infant gators stood up straight and turned around to face the brunette. "I feel as if I should mark this as a great event. Allyson Dawson is late to work."

"My alarm didn't go off," Ally explained and Dez waved a dismissive hand before glancing back at the little alligators and jotting something down on his notepad that was held in his gloved hands.

"It's no problem. Although I do suggest that you get a new phone if you don't want it to happen again," Dez said and manoeuvred around her to inspect a tank of pufferfish.

"I am perfectly fine with the phone I have," Ally defended. "It does its job. I'll just use my actual alarm clock instead from tomorrow."

"Suit yourself. Just don't complain when that ancient thing fizzes out on you."

Ignoring the jabs at her cell phone, Ally changed the topic to something that she knew her boss would be all too eager to speak about.

"Any updates on the island?"

Spinning around to look at her, Dez's eyes hold excitement.

"Yeah, sorta. I think so."

Ally raised a brow at him and deadpanned, "Well that sounds promising."

Her boss grins and sets his notepad onto a table, walking over to his laptop that was set on the other side of the lab before motioning her over.

See, Dezmond has spent most of his life searching for something that other researchers turned their backs on simply because the idea seemed entirely preposterous.

After Pangaea split apart and scientists, field biologists, researchers and practically the whole shebang did research on everything, there had been talk that there could have been a chance that not all islands have been found.

Of course, there are many islands that _have_ been found but nobody really pays any interest in them simply because there isn't anything remotely interesting about them. This led to most believing that even if there was an island undiscovered, it wouldn't be home to anything spectacular. Perhaps just a few plants and bugs. That's it.

Dez though, believes otherwise. He is certain of a particular island that he may or may not have found just north of the Pacific Ocean. Quite a while back, he had been on a sea trip, searching for a species of luminous jellyfish.

A strange substance in the water had caught his attention and he had narrowed the thoughts in his mind down that such a substance could only come from some form of land nearby.

However, he hadn't had the equipment or time to try finding this possible place and was forced to head back, his mind buzzing and racing with thoughts of an undiscovered place.

This has brought him to what he is today. A thirty something man searching for what he believes to be an island that is home to some form of life.

With all that info about Dez, you'd probably think that finding this island is his life's work.

It isn't.

Despite him actually spending most of his life doing research on it, it isn't his actual job. But since his research facility, GenRex, is one of the most successful and one of the best, he's practically free to do whatever he pleases.

Which is why he has sent almost a hundred little airborne cameras towards the direction in which he believes the island is to hopefully get eyes on it. Unfortunately, all of these flying devices have either crashed or like this one, taken out by something...

"Look at this recent footage of my latest camera," The redhead said and stepped back for Ally to watch the video.

At first, all that can be seen is the sky, ocean, and a whole lot of fog before the camera zooms out to reveal random rocks and boulders here and there down below. Once the rocky part of the footage is over, the sea smoothes out again, seemingly looking as if it just goes on in this way.

Just when Ally is about to ask what the point of her looking at seawater and fog is, something like a screech is heard before the camera is hit out of focus, facing the already filmed boulders and rocks behind it before it is knocked about again and the screen goes blank.

Ally frowns. "What the hell was that?"

Dez throws up his hands and exclaims, "I have no idea! But this is the closest I've come to actually finding something out there!"

"Play it again," Ally requested.

Dez hit the replay button and they both watched it again, Ally still frowning. Once it was over, she hit the replay button again and skipped to the part just before the screech like sound is heard. She began to pause it frame by frame until she found what she was looking for.

"What is that right there?"

Dez squinted and leaned closer to the screen to get a better view at what she was pointing at. He shook his head and muttered, "No idea. Don't know how I missed that."

Right before the camera is knocked out of focus; a peculiar looking object reveals itself just above the screen for no more than a nanosecond. Afterwards it disappears and the camera shuts down.

The two continue to look at the screen, scrutinising the claw like object in the currently paused frame.

"Given the sound just before it happens, it could just be a bird," Dez offers uncertainly but with an air of excitement and Ally gives a half-hearted nod for they are both aware that the sound heard was unlike any bird that they have ever come across.

Not to mention that the thing that looks like a claw is much too fuckin' different looking to belong to any bird of today...

Dez zooms into the image and they both lean closer to the screen upon having realised that the camera had caught a glimpse of something in the fog. Dez zooms in closer to the new discovery and increases the quality of the picture.

They both gasp.

"That's impossible," Ally breathes out and Dez shakes his head, eyes widened and he almost falls over when he steps back in shock.

"A _Pterosaur_?"

 _Pterosaur. Meaning "Winged Lizard"_

 _They were flying reptiles that existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period._

 _This particular Pterosaur that is currently on screen is known as Dermodactylus. It wasn't that large. Maybe about the size of a hawk._

"This is amazing!" Dez exclaimed after his initial shock. Ally still stood frozen, staring at the screen while her boss ran across to the other end of the lab, stumbling over his own feet and almost knocking over the baby gator tank in his haste to get to his notebook that he had set down earlier.

He picked it up and began flipping through it. Ally slowly turned away from the screen, her lips pursed and her mind buzzing with so many thoughts.

Most of them having to do with disbelief.

She listened to Dez muttering unrecognisable things under his breath as he continued flipping through his notebook before finally finding what he was looking for.

"I last recorded an event similar to this one around two years ago. Something was in the fog but I didn't really pay much attention to it. Gah! I should have!"

Ally let out a laugh of disbelief and shook her head. "Wow. What the hell?" She asked rhetorically and looked back at the screen. "A Pterosaur. This-this can't be real. I'm definitely dreaming."

Dez laughed excitedly and walked over to her. "No. No, you aren't. There's no mistaking that. My God," He ended with another shake of the head.

Ally looked at him.

"This can only mean one thing," Dez said with a smile that could rival a kid in a candy store.

Ally nodded her head. "Uh huh. Your island is out there. Somewhere."

The red-head stepped towards the screen and gazed at the Pterosaur in awe. "And who knows what else is on that island."

* * *

Alligators are powerful creatures. Powerful and _dangerous_.

I'm certain that everyone is aware of that. If not, you better frikin _make_ yourself aware cause' these animals can break your neck, crush your skull, and really fuck up your day.

But you can't really hold that against them, yeah?

They're just living. Doing what they have to do to survive.

That's pretty much what we're all doing. Surviving. Living.

So yeah. Powerful and dangerous but pretty damn cool. That's alligators.

Austin Shor Moon is extremely fond of them. In fact, he's been fond of them ever since he was a little kid.

He hails from Southern Texas and while there weren't many alligators there to begin with, they did make a few appearances here and there. Not seeing them that much was what got him so interested in them in the first place.

When he was around eight years old, he and his dad moved to California where he attended school and college.

He now works at GenRex as an Alligator Handler and Trainer.

Yes, trainer.

While alligators are not indigenous to California, they are brought here from Florida because of the fact that there many nuisance gators there (in Florida).

No- kill shelters can only do so much and since there aren't that many and there a _re_ many nuisance alligators, there is nowhere to keep them safe.

This is where GenRex comes into play.

The alligators are taken in where they are fed, sheltered and kept safe.

However; the most important reason for them being here is because they are all part of GenRex's research to find a cure for a virus that attacks the brain of alligators, causing them to behave unnaturally and even though they are already considered dangerous, being infected with the virus results in them to turn ruthless and near impossible to keep under control.

Not to mention that after, what has been dubbed as the 'Rage Stage', the alligators return to their normal state and.. Well, they die.

Various experiments, studies, and a whole lot of blood, sweat, and tears have gone into the research of finding out how to stop the virus but unfortunately, GenRex has come up blank.

Austin, also recently turned twenty three, aids in the research by studying their behaviour and training them and attempting to keep them under control aswell as fit and healthy.

Despite not knowing how to exactly cure the animals, what GenRex _does_ know is that most alligators around the world have already been infected.

With that in mind, it can be safely said that alligators are now ticking time bombs and anyone in close proximity to them or in close proximity to their habitat are at risk of falling prey to them when the virus kicks in.

So to put it simply; if something is not done, humans are fucked.

Or if you're uncomfortable with that type of language; humans are screwed. Doesn't make it any less crass but whatever. Suck it up, yeah?

Austin stood at the edge of an embankment, scanning the murky water with a frown on his face and his hands rested on his hips.

Just to put it out there, the young man is quite attractive.

His platinum blonde hair, silky to the touch, brushed the shells of his ears and a few strands always seemed to fall into his face. His hazel eyes are intense and focused, never failing to miss anything in his line of sight.

The tan on his skin from his last break was almost fully gone now, giving away the fact that he more than likely enjoys surfing and anything to do with the outdoors.

His figure and form shows off his muscle mass. Nope, not the huge and hulking boulder looking type muscle, no.

The type that nicely compliments his tall stature.

His abdomen and chest, usually heaving up and down with heavy breaths when angered, is firm and toned. The muscles in his arms will sometimes strain against the sleeves of his t-shirts, accentuating his impressive physique further.

What is most noticeable about Austin though, is the slightly reddish scar on his face. It begins just below his hairline, running down and across his right eye and ending right above his cheekbone.

It doesn't bother him at all. He's just grateful that he still has both eyes.

"Come on, buddy. I know you're in there," Austin murmured while still scanning the murky water below the embankment.

An almost ten foot alligator named Jaws has been missing for a few hours now. A few members of the gator handling crew are abit worried but Austin is certain that Jaws just decided on a little dip in the large lake like pool.

"Maybe the big boy is off terrorising people," One of the handlers, Nat, joked and Austin chuckled. "We'd be hearin' complaints of Godzilla if that happened."

Nat laughed. "He'll turn up sooner or later."

Austin nodded before his eyes caught sight of a few air bubbles on the surface of the water around three metres away from him. He pointed it out to Nat and chuckled. "We should step back."

Not two seconds after the words left the blonde's mouth, Jaws leapt up onto the bank, causing a rush of water to splash followed by the sound of his rumbling growl.

The two handlers jumped out of harm's way, Austin shaking his head at the massive animal. "Have a nice swim, big boy?"

Jaws' mouth gaped open, showing off his dagger like teeth and he began to manoeuvre his large form forward.

"I'm just gonna get him into his own digs," Austin informed and Nat nodded his head.

"Need any help?"

The blonde shook his head. "Nah, I got it. Thanks."

Nat chuckled and backed away from the two. "Alright."

Usually more than four handlers were needed to control an animal as large as Jaws but Austin, he's been around these guys for a long time and he's more than capable of keeping them in line.

While alligators aren't too fond of being lower in ranks or following orders, Austin had somehow managed to train them and gain their respect.

That is one of the reasons why he works here at GenRex.

"Alright, big boy. You gonna work with me here?"

Jaws hissed and opened his mouth wider.

There are quite a few enclosures around the vicinity of GenRex. Every day the gators are allowed to roam around inside them for an amount of time before they're put into their own separate enclosures that have been fashioned to look like the everglades so the gators feel comfortable.

"I'd let you roam around how much you want but somethin' tells me you aren't gonna be doing much for the rest of the day. Probably gonna laze in the sun." Austin said.

The gator manoeuvred his large form forward and growled. Austin smiled and positioned himself in front of him. Bringing up his hand, he snapped his fingers and ordered, "Here!"

He began taking steps back and Jaws followed, his tail swinging and flicking mud from side to side. "Keep comin' there you go."

Realising that he is being led away from the water, Jaws backed up and Austin disapprovingly said, "No."

Jaws hissed and snapped his mouth shut before opening up threateningly again.

Austin carefully stalked forward. "Don't give me that shit," He said sternly and lightly brought his hand down, nudging the gators snout which resulted in another hiss.

He swept to the side and nudged Jaws' side, causing him to swing his body around to face the blonde. "You got your own pool in your enclosure, man. Quit being difficult."

Swiftly moving to the side again, Austin snapped his fingers again. "Come on."

Jaws finally complied and allowed Austin to lead him back to his own enclosure where like expected, he set himself on a patch of dry grass and enjoyed the sun.

After locking up Jaws' enclosure, Austin headed to another one to check up on a gator that had recently succumbed to the virus. She hasn't entered the rage stage yet but it is clear to anyone that she isn't doing that grand.

He was about to head inside when he heard Nat call out to him.

"Dez wants you in the lab."

Austin frowned.

"Now?"

Nat nodded. "Uh huh. Says its important."

Austin walked off and threw over his shoulder, "Check on Maggie, will ya?"

"Got it."

* * *

Austin passes by the front desk of GenRex and shoots a smile to the receptionist who returns the gesture.

He makes his way to the research lab and is almost knocked over by Dez himself who all but ran out of the lab with a notebook clutched in his hands.

"Whoa now," Austin said and Dez laughed almost maniacally. Austin raised a brow and took a step back. "What's with you?"

Dez only laughed more and gestured for Austin to go into the lab.

"You are going to love this! I still can't get over it!"

With his overexcited smile, Austin suspects that this news has something to do with that undiscovered island Dez keeps going on about.

"Can't get over what? What'd you find?" Austin asked and Dez waved his hands and pushed him closer towards the door to the lab. "Just go on in and wait. I'll be right back!"

With that, he ran and disappeared around the corridor, leaving Austin to shake his head at his actions. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say I work for a maniac," He murmured and chuckled before twisting the door handle and entering the lab.

The first thing that catches his eye is hair.

Brunette hair.

She is turned away from him, sprinkling food into the pufferfish tank. He rolls his eyes and walks towards her.

She isn't aware that he came in. Retrieving the lid for the fish food, she begins twisting it onto the jar and almost drops it in surprise when she hears him drawl out her name from behind.

"Ally Marie."

She spins around and upon seeing him, Ally scoffs and spits out none too friendly, "Austin."

Austin shoves his hands in his pockets. "The puffers could give me a better greeting," He says sarcastically.

Ally rolls her eyes, stepping to the side and walking away from him.

They don't like eachother very much...

The both of them choose to say nothing until Dez shows up. Rather they silently watch each other's every move and shoot glares when one catches the other staring.

The silence doesn't last long.

"I'm trying to work and you're burning holes into the back of my head," Ally says while staring down at her clipboard and Austin looks away from her.

"It's a shame the burns are metaphorical," Austin muttered.

Ally looked up from her clipboard and turned around to face him, narrowing her eyes. "Bite me," She spat.

"How 'bout you go and give that request to one of my gators. They'd be very willing."

Ally turned around and murmured under her breath, "Bastard."

"Sassy bitch," He threw back and she flipped him the finger.

Austin walked over to the baby alligator tank, picking one of them up carefully and looking it over, happy to see that the both of them looked healthy. "Hi there, little buddy," He cooed and glanced over at Ally before looking back at the little one in his hands.

"Any sign of the virus in them?"

"No," Ally simply replied and Austin nodded.

 _That's good,_ He thought.

She watched him as he played and spoke to the baby gator, its big eyes locked on his as he cooed at it. She may not like him very much, but she won't deny the fact that he has an amazing gift of understanding these animals.

He's dressed in his usual type of clothing. Faded jeans, a pair of black outdoor boots, and a button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

She looks away when he glances her way but looks right back when his attention turns to the other baby gator.

She's always wondered how he had gotten that scar.

She figures that she could just ask him but she won't. Not only because she doesn't exactly want to have any type of conversation with him but also because she has overheard a few people ask him how he got it and his answer was always the same.

" _By living."_

Shrugging off the curiosity, Ally glanced at the now blank screen that opened up a world of questions earlier. She is still in shock but she composes herself, waiting for Dez to get back since she knows he would want to be here when they show the footage to Austin.

After putting the baby alligator back into its tank, Austin flicked his gaze towards the brunette.

The beautiful brunette whom he hates so fucking much.

He glances at her red top under her lab coat and quickly looks away.

She's an incredibly smart woman. He's always known this but has never said it out aloud since he doesn't want her female ego flaring up.

Around two minutes later, Dez bursts into the lab, still looking excited and Austin perks up.

"Alright you're here. Now what's got you all jumpy like this?"

Dez grinned over at Ally and gestured to his laptop. "Let's show him."

The both of them walked towards the laptop and Austin trailed behind them. "It ain't porn, is it?"

Dez laughed and Ally rolled her eyes. "Just get over here, you pig. I need to get back to work."

Austin walked over to them.

"Yeah, yeah so do I. Ya think you're the only one that works?"

Dez shushed them and hit play, pausing frame by frame like Ally did earlier until the Pterosaur came into view. He zoomed in the image and adjusted the quality.

Austin's eyes widened.

"What the hell?"

Dez nodded excitedly and gave the blonde no time at all to sort out his jumbled thoughts.

"That isn't the only surprise."

Austin tore his gaze away from the screen and looked at Dez's smiling face.

"What do you mean?" Ally asked; her interest now piqued.

"The both of you," Dez said and Austin and Ally looked at each other before back at the red-head.

"The both of us what?" Ally asked.

"I want the both of you to go out and find that island."

* * *

 **Alright so if you're confused about anything, don't worry. Everything will be cleared in later chapters like how Austin got his scar, why Austin and Ally hate eachother, and you'll also learn more about GenRex.**

 **And I know that you guys are waiting on a chapter for Blood Moon. Believe me, I wanna get started on it just as badly. I really hate to do this to you guys since the first chap of this story was such a long wait, but I really cant help it.**

 **So please understand and if ya'll could just wait a little while longer until exams are done, then I can focus on my stories.**

 **Anyway, tell me what you think of this first chapter.**

 **I'll be back as soon as I can.**

 **Ah, and one more thing, DO NOT EVER THINK THAT I WILL ABANDON MY STORIES. I will never do that. If I don't update, it just means that I'm really busy. Eleventh grade is hectic after all.**

 **Love you guys.**

 **PEACE.**


	2. Rage

**Greetings lovely people! Here I am with the second chapter of my new story. Hope that ya'll enjoy it!**

 **Don't-Stop-Believin: Glad that you like it already! Heres the update**

 **Blue Eyes- Thank You!**

 **Guest61865- Lmao thanks for that review. Kinda inflated my female ego abit XD Haha. Here's your update.**

* * *

 **Recap: Repeating Days-Jurassic (R.D-J)**

 **-A creature from the Jurassic Period is caught on tape, prompting Dezmond to believe that the island that he has spent years looking for is definitely out there.**

 **This results in him turning to his most trusted employees; Allyson Marie Dawson and Austin Shor Moon to find this island...**

 **-GenRex continues research concerning the virus that has been attacking the brains of alligators all around the world.**

 **It is crucial that they find or create a cure.**

 _ **Dez shushed them and hit play, pausing frame by frame like Ally did earlier until the Pterosaur came into view. He zoomed in the image and adjusted the quality.**_

 _ **Austin's eyes widened.**_

" _ **What the hell?"**_

 _ **Dez nodded excitedly and gave the blonde no time at all to sort out his jumbled thoughts.**_

" _ **That isn't the only surprise."**_

 _ **Austin tore his gaze away from the screen and looked at Dez's smiling face.**_

" _ **What do you mean?" Ally asked; her interest now piqued.**_

" _ **The both of you," Dez said and Austin and Ally looked at each other before back at the red-head.**_

" _ **The both of us what?" Ally asked.**_

" _ **I want the both of you to go out and find that island."**_

* * *

Ally stared at her boss, an eyebrow raised.

Austin scoffed and let out a sarcastic 'Yeah, okay' before turning around and taking a seat on a stool.

The red-head didn't seem like he was deterred by their reactions. His face was still beaming with obvious excitement and he nodded his head in regards to his previous statement. "I have no doubt in my mind that the both of you would be perfect for this job!"

Ally snorted and rolled her eyes. "Dez, I can't just drop all my research and go out to who knows where to find this place. There's absolutely no way that I can do that. I'm excited about this as you are but we've got alot of work here." Her words came out more gently towards the end, seeing as how her boss' face fell in the middle of her speaking.

Dez sighed. "I get that we're really busy with finding out about this virus and everything but _this!_ " He gestured to the monitor where the image of the Pterosaur was with the excited gleam back in his green eyes. "This is _more_ than whatever I expected to find on these tapes! A _dinosaur_! Imagine what else could be out there!"

Ally pursed her lips while Austin, still on the stool, let out a breath and pinched the bridge of his nose before waking up and walking over to his boss.

"Look, man. This here," He gestured to the image of the Pterosaur, "This is real amazing and all but if you think that I'm about to abandon my gators just to go out and look for this so called island that you have a hunch about, you're probably alot more crazy than I expected."

The red-head's shoulders sagged and he frowned in disappointment. "You wouldn't be abandoning them," he mumbled and Austin shook his head.

"I would be. Looking for this place could take a lot of time and alot of work. Time and work that I would rather be spending by taking care of the animals here."

"You're right, you're right," Dez relented and reached up to rub his face before pausing and slowly turning to Ally. "I can get someone to fill in for you," He said and Ally raised a brow.

"Excuse me?"

Dez grinned and walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders and allowing an exaggerated look of seriousness to take over his features. "Ally, this is big. It's _huge_."

With the same exaggerated look of seriousness, Ally took his arms of her shoulders and said, "So is the research here," Before walking to her laptop placed on a table.

Austin, who had moved to the monitor to study the Pterosaur again, looked towards the brunette and huffed out a breath and rolled his eyes.

"What?" She snapped and he raised a brow.

"Ally Marie, if you would have to go on this little adventure, it really wouldn't hurt the work here."

At this, Ally narrowed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest, crinkling up her lab coat. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

Austin raised his hands up in front of him defensively after seeing the deadly look she was sporting. "Don't go all bitch on me now. I'm just agreeing with Dez. There's a bunch of you working in the lab. One less member ain't gonna make that much of a dent."

He turned back to the monitor and Ally glared daggers at the back of his head, trying not to look towards her boss who was currently pouting and pleading with his eyes.

She groaned and shook her head. "Even if I do agree," She said, now looking at Dez, "Where do we even start? How do we find this place? We don't even know if it _exists_."

Dezmond waved a dismissive hand. "This Pterosaur has to come from somewhere so obviously there's a form of land nearby."

Austin came up behind Dez. "Fine, but you still don't know where it is. Or how to get there."

Dez grinned and held up a hand before retrieving his notebook. "I actually do know where we might be able to find it. See, my airborne cameras, naturally, were hooked up to my laptop. So I tracked their every move and in doing that, I was able to get the coordinates of their last journey."

Holding up his notebook, he showed it to Austin where indeed, the coordinates were written in his bold penmanship. "And it just so happens, their last journey was where they had come into contact with our friend over there," He ended with pointing to the Pterosaur on the screen.

Austin smirked and took the heavy notebook from Dez, unceremoniously dropping it into Ally's hands and making her stumble abit from the weight. She let out a growl of disapproval and glared up at him.

"Looks like you got quite the trip, Ally Marie. Bring me back a souvenir.

"Fuck you," She hissed and he raised a brow.

"You'd love that, wouldn't you?"

If it weren't for the large notebook stuffed with all sorts of documents and forms feeling like a dumbbell in her hand, she would have decked him out faster than an alligator snatching up a wildebeest from a river bank.

"Alright, alright both of you. Look, Austin, I know that you wouldn't want to leave but isn't there any w-"

"I told you. I'm not leaving."

Dez sighed and rested his hands on his hips. "I could double you salary."

Austin shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, some of the strands falling back and covering the top half of his scar. "I have more money than I need, Dez. I'm staying for the gators."

Having now drifted away from the two, Ally sets the notebook down onto a table and mutters, "As if it would be so bad for them to get a break from you."

Dez turned around and gave Ally a disapproving look to which she just shrugged to before throwing Austin's words back at him. "If _you_ go on this, as you put it, a _dventure_ , it's not going to hurt any of _your_ work here."

Naturally, he responded quite like she did. "And what does that mean?"

"It means that you're forgetting that there are other handlers here who are quite capable of keeping the alligators happy and healthy."

Austin allowed a smug smirk to appear on his face before he moved towards her, towering over her form. "You're right and wrong."

Ally raised a brow. "How am I wrong?" She challenged, standing up on her tiptoes to better focus her glare towards him.

With the smirk still in place, he tilted his head slightly. "You're wrong in saying that my work here wouldn't be affected. Yes, the other handlers can keep the alligators happy and healthy but to an _extent_."

Realising where he is going with this, Ally stepped back down to her normal height and crossed her arms over her chest, a mask of annoyance being pulled onto her features while Austin went on.

"Not to brag but none of the other crew members are able to connect with the gators like I can. Once the virus really kicks in, nobody except me in this entire facility is gonna be able to contain them and keep 'em calm."

At that, Ally's features went from annoyed to, like Austin, smug in a nanosecond. "While that may be true, what you don't know is that I've created a serum that will be injected into the alligators later this week."

Austin frowned. "A serum? What for?"

Still looking very much proud of herself, Ally looked over to Dez as a way of asking him to explain to the blonde.

"It's quite impressive," Dez commented and turning away from the dainty woman, Austin looked at his boss who motioned for him to follow him into another room, similar to the one that they were in, only a tad darker.

Commonly called; The Reptile Room. It contained mini enclosures that housed; snakes, turtles, chameleons, lizards, you get the drift.

Like all the animals that live in or throughout the vicinity of GenRex, the reptiles in this room were all rescued.

"Since we need to keep the alligators calm when the virus kicks in, Ally here figured that we needed some help from some other species of animals. Specifically calm and easygoing animals," Dez explained while Austin listened intently.

"Help?" He asked and Dez walked over to a tank with a lizard inside.

"You're familiar with Sam, right?"

Austin nodded.

Everyone in the facility was familiar with Sam. He was one of the shakiest and nervous lizards they have ever come across. While most species of Lizards were relatively shy, Sam was by far the _most_ shy. Whenever he saw someone approaching his tank, he would immediately scuttle away and begin having a near panic attack, trying to locate a place to hide.

Austin was aware of this and it's why he raised his eyebrows in interest when Dez moved right next to the tank and Sam didn't even flinch. All he did was look at Dez and lazily amble his way up a branch that was set in his tank before going about his business.

"Well, dang," Austin said and turned to Ally. " _You_ did that?" He asked with mock disbelief and Ally rolled her eyes at him, resisting the urge to cuss at him again.

"Indeed she did," Dez said proudly. "She used the serum from the blood of a manatee."

"Hmm," Austin murmured and nodded in understanding. "They're one of the calmest creatures in nature." He looked at Ally again. "How'd you know it would work?"

She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I'm a genius."

Austin rolled his eyes and turned back to Sam who still looked calm and comfortable as ever.

"Also, look at this," Dez said as he eagerly reached behind the tank, pulling out a device that was hooked onto a cable beside the tank. "His heart rate is normal, steady. We're obviously going to need a larger dose for the alligators but I'm sure that it's going to work."

Austin huffed out a breath. "You got way too much faith in her."

Ally glared at him. "You're just jealous that I found out a way to help them and you didn't."

Austin chuckled and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I admit that this is very helpful but how long does it last? Once the serum wears off, the gators are still gonna be subjected to the effects of the virus."

Dez cut in. "This serum will serve to buy us more time to get a cure."

"More time? So you're saying this serum slows down the virus?"

"You catch on quick," Ally said which resulted in Austin to flip her the finger.

Shaking his head at the two, Dez said, "Just explain it to him."

Ally looked at Austin who folded his arms across his chest, twitching his right brow up and waiting for her to speak.

Suddenly, she couldn't take being in the same room as the blonde.

She made a show of allowing a look of thoughtfulness to overtake her features before simply saying, "No thanks," And placing the serum back where it was.

"You do it." She said upon moving towards the door.

Austin watched as she sashayed her way out of the room, breezing past him and allowing the scent of her shampoo to race into his nostrils, shaking up his senses.

"Bitch," Austin muttered which was quickly followed by her muffled voice behind the closed door.

"Asshole."

Once again, Dez shook his head and set his gaze on Austin. "Will you both ever try to get along?"

Ignoring the question, Austin asked, "So the serum?"

Sighing, Dez pulled up a stool and explained, "The virus attacks the brain of the alligators. In turn, the brain sends a message to the heart, telling it to increase its rate. The alligators become aggressive due to this and they lash out, setting off on a rampage."

To this, Austin nodded, none of it being news to him and continued listening.

"They have all already been infected, as you know, their heart rates have already picked up. Not that much but still enough for them to become unstable at odd times. Because the effects of the virus become stronger, they get more agitated which leads to the Rage Stage and after all that strain, heart failure. Death."

Despite already knowing all of this information about the virus, Austin still visibly flinched, running a hand through his hair and down his face, the edges of his scar beginning to burn.

"Because Sam's heart rate usually picked up drastically whenever people came too close to him, he was the closest that we could get to seeing if this serum worked. Obviously we made sure beforehand that it wouldn't harm him before testing it on him."

Before he could go on, Austin frowned and asked, "How'd ya'll inject him with the stuff without him having a heart attack?"

Dez smiled and chuckled. "You aren't the only one who can charm reptiles, Austin. He seemed a little okay being around Ally. She has quite the delicate touch."

Clearing his throat, Austin rolled his eyes and mumbled 'Uh huh' before he motioned with his hands for Dez to go on.

"We noticed that when the serum from the manatee was introduced into his system, he immediately calmed down. His heart that usually raced a mile a minute slowed to a normal pace. We're pretty certain that once we inject the alligators, they'll calm down and their heart rates will go back to normal, slowing down the virus. Even if it is for just a while."

"How long will the effects of the serum last?" Austin asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"We're banking on two months tops."

Austin tilted his head and pursed his lips. "So once it wears of you just inject them again? Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

Dez made a sound of disappointment and rubbed his hands together. "Weeeell," He pulled on the word and allowed his shoulders to droop. "Yes," He finally said. "Which is why we intend to use as little as possible in every dose. You know, to stretch it out aswell as not use too much."

Austin nodded. "Sounds good. Until a cure is found, that is."

"Exactly. And you know what else?" Dez asked, leaning forward in his seat, grinning.

Austin raised both brows in an unimpressed manner. "I do know what it means and I'm sorry but just because this serum may work on the gators, _doesn't_ mean I'm gonna accompany that woman on this trip."

Dez was ready to plead with the blonde again but was cut off when an alarm went off throughout the entire lab, signalling that one of the gators were close to entering the Rage Stage.

"Shit! Maggie!" Austin hissed and was out of the room in a flash, followed by Dez.

The two men barrelled out of the lab and out of the facility, Austin hopping up on his motorcycle, speeding down the dirt path that led to the enclosures while Dez just ran down the path like a mad man.

Upon reaching, Austin raced towards Maggie's enclosure that was set on higher ground. He could already hear various handlers voices and the heavy hissing that no doubt came from Maggie.

He pushed through the trees and skidded across the damp and muddy floor until he was able to see what looked like all seven of the handlers, safe for himself, already there.

Two of them caught sight of him and urged the other three handlers to make way. He made his way past them and was met with the sight of Nat and another handler, Carl, attempting to calm Maggie down.

She was having none of it. She twisted and turned, shaking her large head back and forth and ripping out rumbling growls.

This was bad. A Rage Stage could go on for days with little breaks in between. Sometimes though, it could last for just a few minutes and that is what is so unsettling to Austin right now. He, aswell as everyone else, is aware that just a few hours after the Rage Stage passes, all the strain and effort catches up to the alligator, resulting in its death.

They need to calm her down real soon.

With the huge amount of slippery mud, Maggie's enclosure is probably the most risky place to be handling a dangerous animal.

Austin went in and signalled for Carl to slowly move away. While this may seem like a bad idea, it's called for.

If there are too many handlers surrounding them, an alligator in the Rage Stage could become even more aggressive and even more dangerous. This is why only a few handlers must attempt to contain them.

However, the decision usually varies, depending on the size of the animal. For example, if it were Jaws that needed to be contained, atleast three or four handlers would be needed.

Right now though, Nat and Austin would have to handle this.

Having heard the alarm, Ally had retrieved a syringe containing the serum and made her way into the enclosure along with an out of breath Dez, just in time to see Austin set foot in front of Maggie.

She opened her mouth wide, threateningly shutting it closed before opening up again and growling. Ally watched as Austin reached into his back pocket, retrieving a clicker tool and bringing his hand up.

He repeatedly pressed down on the button, releasing a series of clicks that sounded like a person continuously tapping on a single button of a laptop.

"Easy, girl," Austin gently said while Nat moved.

Maggie snapped her jaws again and Nat moved behind her, tapping on her tail which caused her to swing towards him.

He shot his hands up to avoid it being bitten off when she lunged.

"She's already too worked up," Nat said and jumped away again when Maggie snapped at him.

Austin agreed with a slight nod. "Anyone ready with a towel over there?" He asked without turning his head and one of the handlers tossed one forward where it landed by his heavy outdoor boot clad feet.

Austin clicked again and Maggie growled but didn't turn away from Nat.

Instead, she snapped her mouth again, the action resulting in an echoing thud from her heavy jaws.

"She's gonna follow your every move so I'm gonna work her this way. Then you can move away," Austin said to Nat as he picked up the towel and rested it over his shoulder, his gaze still focused on Maggie.

Not waiting for a reply, Austin reached down and nudged her right leg. She hissed and swung sideways, Austin swiftly moving and placing himself in front of her while Nat dodged a hit from her tail.

"Alright, Maggie," Austin softly said in a calm tone, knowing that if he raises his voice she could just succumb to the dreaded stage even more.

"Jump her?" Nat asked and Austin shook his head, still intently focused on the animal.

"Not yet. She's still too worked up," He mumbled, staring into Maggie's gleaming eyes that were locked on him. Again, he brought up his hand and pressed down twice, letting out two clicks, hoping that the familiar sound of the tool that is regularly used would calm her.

Just when it seemed that she was calm enough, everyone was caught off guard when she roared, spinning around and knocking Nat off his feet with her tail.

"Dammit!" Lunging away from her large teeth, Austin slipped on the mud and stumbled to regain his footing.

The six remaining handlers along with Dez and Ally let out audible gasps and shouts of fright.

Quickly regaining his composure, Austin moved to stand in front of Nat who was waking up off the ground just as Maggie lunged for him.

Using both hands, Austin slammed her jaws shut and held them tightly.

"Shit. Thanks, man," Nat said.

A growl rumbled deep in Maggie's throat and Nat snatched the towel off of the ground where it fell from Austin's shoulder, placing it over the alligator's eyes and secured it quickly. The darkness now surrounding her calmed her just a little bit.

Breathing heavily and still holding her jaws closed, a now mud covered Austin kneeled down in front of her.

She shook her head roughly, and would have probably bitten his head off if he didn't move quickly and shut her jaws again. She made a sound of anger and annoyance which was met with a light slap on her snout from Austin.

"Don't give me your crap," He told her through gritted teeth and Ally and the rest watched as he slowly let go of her jaws.

Everyone held their breath when the blonde then reached for the towel covering her eyes. He eased it off slowly and uncovered her gleaming eyes that were locked on his own.

The sound of the mud squishing as Nat slowly moved away was about to set her off again and she grumbled, moving her head to the side.

Austin used one hand to turn her gaze back to him, resulting in her to growl.

"Ssh," He soothed and let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding.

They had calmed her down just in time. If they hadn't, she would have succumbed to the Rage Stage completely.

Not wanting to risk being too close to her right now, after all, she _is_ a wild animal; Austin slowly placed a hand under her mouth while getting up carefully. With his hand still in place, he tilted her head up before using his other hand on the top of her mouth, holding her deadly jaws closed.

His eyes flicked over to Ally. "We got her in time. You wanna try that?" He asked and tilted his head towards the syringe in her hand.

She nodded and made her way over, almost slipping in the mud. Nat chuckled at her and she playfully glared at him, giving him a flirty smack on the arm as she passed him, causing Austin to roll his eyes.

"What's that?" Carl asked about the syringe in Ally's hand.

Dez turned to all of them. "I'll explain everything to you guys. Come on," He told all the handlers and Nat looked towards Austin and Ally, walking over to them.

"Gonna be alright?"

Austin held onto Maggie's mouth with one hand and used the other to lightly bump his fist against Nat's.

"Yeah, go on ahead. Good job, man." He returned his hand to its previous position.

"Thanks, Nat," Ally added, now crouched down next to Maggie and Nat smiled before heading away, leaving Austin and Ally alone.

They both said nothing to eachother as Ally uncovered the syringe. She flicked the side of it a few times, allowing any air bubbles to make their way up before she squirted a tiny amount out, making sure that any excess air was taken care of.

Ally lightly touched her hand to Maggie's head, taking note that she didn't flinch from any pain.

Looks like they did get her just in time.

Reaching down, Ally carefully injected the serum into Maggie. She startled the slightest bit and made a low rumbling sound that was quickly cut off when Austin let out a rough 'Whoa now'

Extracting the needle, Ally glanced at Austin. He was looking at Maggie with his hair covering his eyes and again, falling over the top half of his scar.

"Done," She said quietly and woke up. "She'll need to be under observation to check whether the serum works for her. I'll send someone in later."

Finally looking up at her, Austin nodded. "Alright."

Ally turned on her heel and made her way towards the exit of the enclosure, knowing that Austin wouldn't let Maggie go until she was out.

She loathed him with a passion, yes, but she knows that he would rather get injured himself rather than allow an alligator to hurt anyone else.

Still crouched down, Austin watched as the brunette made her way out, hoping to God that this serum of hers works.

He slowly let go of Maggie's jaws, carefully waking up off the ground and moving away a few feet away from her, watching as she made a low grumbling sound at the back of her throat and took to the pond behind them, submerging herself.

* * *

After swopping out his muddied shirt for a clean one, Austin made his way back to the lab where Ally was filling up various beakers with what he's guessing is more serum.

Ally looked up at him, a bored look on her face. "What?"

"Where's Dez?"

"Right here," The red-head answered after exiting the Reptile Room.

Austin got right to it. "I understand how important this island is to you but if her serum doesn't work," He said and shot a glance to Ally who narrowed her eyes at him, "Hells gonna break loose with these gators."

Ally piped up. "It w _ill_ work."

Austin raised a brow and tilted his head. "Yeah? How sure are you?"

Ally fixed him with a cold stare. "You're doubting me?"

Once again in the middle of the two, Dez shrank at the tension despite not knowing e _xactly what_ the two of them have against eachother.

Her question stirred something within him and Austin locked his gaze with hers, his look was intense and hard as he moved forward to stand in front of her, towering over her form for the second time today.

"I've doubted _alot_ of things concerning you, Ally Marie."

Her heart skipped a beat and the hard expression she was sporting faltered slightly from his words but she righted herself in a flash. Bringing her face closer to his, she spoke through gritted teeth.

"There's plenty of doubt in many of your actions aswell, Austin Moon. Don't play innocent."

With that, she pushed past him and out of the lab.

Austin's fists were clenched at his sides, the edges of his scar beginning to burn once more. They had gone from speaking about the serum to something else in a nanosecond.

Austin then heard the voice of his boss behind him.

"So uhh... The island?"

* * *

 **Thats a wrap. Tell me what you guys think!**

 **Blood Moon will be updated next. Keep an eye out.**

 **Follow me on Instagram for sneak peeks and updates on my stories. OfficialScorpioSmile**

 **Plenty questions about everything, I know. It will all be answered in due time. Promise.**

 **Love you guys!**

 **PEACE.**


	3. Confirming And Convincing

**Hello there my readers who I love so much. How you guys doing? Everyone have a nice Christmas? Hope so :)**

 **Alright, here's the next chapter. I'm glad that I'm getting a positive response to this story. I hope that ya'll come to enjoy it as much as Blood Moon.**

 **Speaking of, the next chapter of Blood Moon will be updated in a few days. Maybe a week or so.**

 **And sorry for not replying to your reviews. I usually do that when writing out these Authors Notes but right now I've got a killer headache and my laptops screen brightness is just adding to it.**

 **I promise though to reply to your next reviews that I hope ya'll will write out for me :P**

 **Hope you guys enjoy.**

 **Read on...**

* * *

 **Recap: R.D-J**

 **-A serum created by Ally is injected into the bloodstream of an alligator named, Maggie, when she succumbs to the effects of the virus.**

 **GenRex now waits, hoping that the serum works in order to buy more time in finding or creating a cure.**

 **-Despite Dezmond's persistence, Austin still stands firm on his decision of staying with the alligators and not going out to find the island.**

 **However, Dez strongly believes that Austin, along with Ally, would be perfect for this expedition.**

 **-Austin and Ally continue to shoot daggers at eachother whenever possible, and just a little question from the brunette has the blonde clenching his jaw in anger.**

 **...Resulting in a very tense turn in conversation between the two.**

 _ **Ally fixed him with a cold stare. "You're doubting me?"**_

 _ **Once again in the middle of the two, Dez shrank at the tension despite not knowing**_ **exactly what** _ **the two of them have against eachother.**_

 _ **Her question stirred something within him and Austin locked his gaze with hers, his look was intense and hard as he moved forward to stand in front of her, towering over her form for the second time today.**_

" _ **I've doubted**_ **alot** _ **of things concerning you, Ally Marie."**_

 _ **Her heart skipped a beat and the hard expression she was sporting faltered slightly from his words but she righted herself in a flash. Bringing her face closer to his, she spoke through gritted teeth.**_

" _ **There's plenty of doubt in many of your actions aswell, Austin Moon. Don't play innocent."**_

 _ **With that, she pushed past him and out of the lab.**_

 _ **Austin's fists were clenched at his sides, the edges of his scar beginning to burn once more. They had gone from speaking about the serum to something else in a nanosecond.**_

 _ **Austin then heard the voice of his boss behind him.**_

" _ **So uhh... The island?"**_

* * *

Since the serum had worked on the ever jumpy lizard, Sam, it didn't come as much of a shock when just a little over an hour after being injected, Maggie had calmed down considerably.

While this is in fact good news, there is no time for celebration. The serum will merely serve to slow down the virus and GenRex must now continue working to find a cure before the Rage Stage becomes more constant, resulting in alligators out in the wild to wreak havoc on villages or homes close by.

All alligators residing at GenRex have now been injected and are being watched and cared for 24/7

The virus is worldwide, though it seems that the alligators in Florida and California are affected by it the most.

"You're going, right?" Dez asked Ally while he inspected a slide with a drop of alligator blood on it through a microscope.

It's been two days since Maggie's rage episode and Austin and Ally's tense conversation in the lab. The two had done everything in their power to avoid eachother at all costs.

Austin kept himself busy outside of the lab and inside the alligator enclosures while Ally kept herself busy inside the lab and outside the enclosures.

However, after the results of the serum working was released the day Maggie was injected, Ally couldn't resist and had made a point in sending Austin a heated glare with just the right amount of smugness in the flick of her eyebrow as if to say, 'Told you it'll work'

All Austin had done was shake his head at her, narrowing his eyes and shoving his hands into his pockets.

He didn't dare voice out loud that he was elated that her serum worked and would now hopefully prolong the lives of the gators until a cure is found.

Obviously though, with the heat from their earlier conversation still lapping at their insides, like previously stated; the two young stubborn adults blatantly ignored and stayed away from eachother at all costs.

From beneath her safety goggles, Ally rolled her eyes and rose up from her bent over position next to a beaker filled with various substances.

She slid the goggles up to rest on top of her head and turned to face her boss who was still looking through the microscope.

"I told you I would think about it," She replies to his question.

Still bent over, Dez mumbles, "It's been two days. I need confirmation so that I can make the necessary arrangements."

Ally's eyebrows quirk up. "Why aren't you going out to find this place? Why make me go?"

"You _and_ Austin," Dez corrected and she scoffed.

"Whatever. So why aren't you going?"

Standing up to his full height, Dez sighed and turned to face the brunette. "Well _someone_ needs to keep an eye on things around here."

"Then _you_ go and _I'll_ stay back," Ally countered.

Dez gave her a bored look and crossed his arms across his chest. "You're probably just as excited about this discovery as me. I know that you wanna go. The excuse about having too much work and everything here is just an excuse to cover up."

"Cover up? About what?" Ally asked defensively causing Dez to roll his eyes and shake his head.

"Cover up the fact that you just don't want to go because I want Austin going too."

At the mention of his name, Ally felt her gut twist into a knot and her cheeks flushed. She was about to retort and snap that she would not act so childish, that she would be mature about the situation and not allow her hatred for that man to interfere with her work but before she was able to even get a syllable out, Dez spoke.

"Don't even think about denying it, Dawson."

Ally stubbornly glared at her boss and huffed out a breath of annoyance, her hair whipping over her shoulder when she spun around to leave the lab.

"I'm taking my break," She muttered, pulling off her goggles and hanging up her lab coat on her way out, revealing her casual black wrap blouse that was paired with blue skinny jeans and a pair of white Converse sneakers.

The door to the lab slammed shut and Dez shook his head again, leaning his back against the table behind him.

"Austin and Ally, what is with the two of you?" He mumbled to himself before getting back to work.

* * *

Now in her private office, Ally sipped on her black coffee while gazing out of the floor length windows that overlooked part of one of the many alligator enclosures. Unlike others, this one is closer to the main entrance of GenRex.

She could see two alligators lazily ambling about at the edge of the murky pool while another was soaking up the California sun on a rock, his mouth slightly open and showing off the dagger looking teeth.

Ally let out a sigh and moved her cup towards her lips, taking another sip of her beverage when she caught sight of the gate of the enclosure being pushed open.

A sense of bitterness, not from the coffee, immediately flowed through her upon seeing that familiar head of platinum blonde hair.

He sauntered into the enclosure with a silver bucket dangling in his hands, catching the attention of the three animals. They all brought their gazes towards him, the two at the edge of the pool slipped into the murky water, slowly swimming to the other edge where he was standing while the other on the rock just continued looking at him.

Ally saw Austin's lips quirk up into a smile as he watched them come closer.

He reached into the bucket and brought up a hunk of meat, throwing it towards the water where one of the gators immediately leaped up, his jaws shutting around the provided food.

The two in the water began fighting for the meat when Austin calmly reached into the bucket again, retrieving another piece and kicking at the water, gaining their attention before laying the meat down.

Just as he walked away, the other alligator pushed itself out of the water, grabbing the flesh and dragging it back into the pool.

The last alligator continued sitting on the rock as Austin came up to him. The blonde reached forward and gave the animal a playful shove to the snout, resulting in him to open his mouth wider and while Ally couldn't hear it, she's certain that a hiss followed afterwards.

Reaching into the bucket for a third time, Austin brought out another hunk of meat that he tossed into the alligator's mouth, those massive jaws immediately slammed shut around the food.

Ally watched as Austin moved towards the exit, his heavy black boots creating imprints in the mud as he walked. His worn out jeans had little smears of dirt here and there from working outside and his black button down clung to his broad shoulders, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

Realising that she had been staring, Ally shook her head and moved away from the window, setting down her now empty cup and taking a seat on her desk chair.

She let out a breath as she replayed part of her conversation with her boss about fifteen minutes ago.

" _Cover up? About what?"_

" _Cover up the fact that you just don't want to go because I want Austin going too."_

She bit down on her lesser lip and ran a hand through her brunette hair, twirling a few strands around her slender finger.

"It's not just about him," She muttered grumpily to herself.

 _He_ is _part of the reason though._

Ally rolled her eyes at the little voice inside her head, internally requesting it to shut the hell up.

"I have alot of work here," She muttered to herself again.

 _Work that others in the lab are perfectly capable of doing._

Groaning at hearing the voice again, she rubbed a hand down her face frustratingly.

Sure, there are other people who could handle the work here. More than enough, really. But that doesn't mean her level of expertise wouldn't be needed. What would happen then? She would be gone on some expedition to find an island, obviously very far away, unable to get back in time to help if the matter is urgent.

Her thoughts were giving her a headache and she groaned again.

 _Fine, yeah. It is a little about him too,_ Ally thought bitterly.

She rolled her chair back and got up to pace her office, her sneakers occasionally squeaking against the wooden flooring when she made a sudden turn.

 _Dez is right. This is big. This is worth finding,_ She thought while picturing the Pterosaur that had been caught on video.

Surely she could stand to endure Austin Moon's company if it meant finding an island that was hopefully teeming with undiscovered life.

She stopped her pacing and folded her arms across her chest. "I'm getting ahead of myself. He hasn't even said yes to going."

She completely forgot about that. Austin seemed to be rooted to his decision of staying with the alligators. Nevertheless though, whether he goes with her or not, she would remain mature and professional about the entire thing.

 _Hopefully,_ She internally said and picked up her empty cup to wash and put away before heading back to the lab to give Dez confirmation.

* * *

Outside the main vicinity of GenRex, Austin made his way towards his black Harley Davidson motorcycle, straddling it and kicking it into a drive. He rode away from the large building and down the dirt path leading to the more green area of the facility.

Reaching after a few minutes or so, he got off his bike and made his way towards a little room next to one of the enclosures.

He heard one of the handlers speaking on the phone before he entered and wondered if it was someone calling to alert them about a nuisance gator.

Yes, people can in fact contact GenRex.

However, the calls are only delivered to the Alligator Handlers of the facility. A few handlers take something like a 'Secretary Shift' everyday and keep close to this little room where the landline is kept.

Calls come through maybe around twice a week. A person calls in and alerts the handler of an alligator that is too close for comfort and in turn, handlers go out to catch and bring the alligator to GenRex.

While alligators aren't indigenous to California, a little(actually, _major_ ) accident took place when a zoo was burned down around fifteen years ago.

Long story short, a few alligators survived and took refuge in lakes and rivers where they began to breed. This resulted in a large outbreak of cute little gator babies that _also_ survived in those aforementioned lakes and rivers, resulting in California to now be home to... Yup, a _whole_ lot of alligators.

It's imperative for a handler working the secretary shift to be close to this room at all times since people will usually contact GenRex first if there is an alligator problem. If they are not able to get a hold of anyone, people, heartless people might I add, resort to calling Gator Gambler.

Gator Gambler is an organisation that takes in nuisance gators aswell. But instead of rehabilitating them and allowing them to live as normal a life as possible, they use them to bring in money.

The alligators are put on show. And not the usual shows like Alligator Wrestling or anything, no. These shows feature the alligators in open areas, their mouths taped shut for practically the entire day as boatloads of people constantly fill in to interact with them.

Uh huh, interact. Not only are their jaws taped for a long amount of time, but they're also put under a light drug that keeps them awake, just not enough to cause harm to the bumbling and irritating fuckers around them.

The people are allowed to touch, probe, and take pictures with the alligators among other things that the organisation will allow.

All of this is obviously very uncomfortable for the animals and GenRex has done whatever they could to stop the organisation. People that care for the gators have also done all they could. Petitions were signed, speeches were made, marches have even been carried out, all of which GenRex have taken part in.

Despite all of that though, nothing has been done since a larger number of people have no problem with Gator Gambler.

Their argument is that the gators are not being harmed in any way and even though GenRex has brought up the fact that they are in very unfavourable conditions and situations, Gator Gambler continues with business.

Also, with people scared shitless that the alligators could snap at any moment and kill them, they are more than happy to allow Gator Gambler to snatch up the animals and keep them locked away instead of allowing GenRex to keep them healthy and safe.

They'd rather the alligators be locked away, only out when the time for a show arrives.

Just as Austin opens the door to the room, the handler currently on duty, Toby, hangs up and gets off his chair.

"Gator?" Austin asks even though there's nothing else it would really be.

Except those rare calls which they get of a wandering snake.

Toby nods his head and waves a piece of paper in the air. "Got the address right here. You gonna go?"

Taking the piece of paper in his own hand, Austin affirms, "Yup," and exits the room.

Of course he'd go. He's pretty much the only handler that has been on every single pickup without fail.

Not to say the other handlers can't manage. They can. It's just that when Austin had first been hired, his only job was going out on pickups. He was never a fully fledged handler.

It was only when Dez began noticing how he interacted with the animals, almost like he was communicating with them, that he gave him a higher position which evidently resulted in him taking up the position of the 'head honcho' so to speak.

You would think that this would cause annoyance and animosity amongst the handlers and him but it's far from that.

The rest of them are quite happy with him taking charge.

It also helps that he isn't the bossy type. Usually he just keeps to himself and gives out orders only when necessary.

Forgoing his motorcycle since you obviously can't possibly carry an alligator back with it; Austin makes his way towards one of the five gator pickup trucks.

He's about to hop in when a thought comes into his head.

Raising a hand towards his mouth, he lets out a quick whistle and not even three seconds later, an answering bark is heard.

Dashing out from his position under one of vans parked a few meters away, the large and pure black German Shepherd races towards Austin who crouches down to greet him.

"Levi. Doin' good, bud?"

Levi wags his tail in response, enjoying the massage behind his ears. He lets out another bark and Austin smiles. "Come on, you've been sleepin' too much today. Get some exercise," He jokes and gets up, hopping into the van.

Levi is about to jump in when his attention is diverted to another handler coming their way.

"Nat," Austin greets and the aforementioned handler smiles in response.

"Toby said we got a gator."

Austin nods. "Yeah, it's just one, I got it. Taking Levi with me," He informs and Nat raises a hand towards his neck, rubbing at it.

"I'm gonna come with you."

Austin raises a brow and watches as his friend reaches down to pet Levi on the head before opening the back door for him to jump in.

"Oh, uhh, alright. Could always use some help."

Nat doesn't say anything and gets into the front seat, buckling in his seatbelt.

Austin inserts and twists the key in the ignition and drives off, opening one of the facilities exits to head out to the address that he previously memorised.

"So uhh, this is more about talking to you than helping out with the gator," Nat says after a few moments of silence.

With his eyes still trained on the road, Austin casually says, "Yeah? About what?"

"Dez's island," Nat answers without missing a beat.

Austin frowns. "He told you about that? Thought he wanted to keep it under the rug for now."

Even though Austin wasn't looking at him, Nat shrugged his shoulders. "He told me yesterday. It's pretty frikin cool."

Austin hummed his agreement. "Yeah, it is."

Nothing else was said for a minute.

Nat broke the silence. "He says that you don't wanna go."

As if he was expecting a statement like that, which he was, Austin snorted out a chuckle. "Uh huh. And I'm guessin' he wants you to convince me to go."

Propping up his elbow against the trucks window, Nat used his hand to ruffle up his dark hair while sighing. "Sort of, yeah. This could be a huge find, Austin. There's probably a whole world out there that we don't know about."

"Yeah, while that may be true, I'm solely focused on the world that we _do_ know about."

Nat pursed his lips and turned to Austin. "Why won't you go?"

The blonde shook his head. "Dez has asked me the same thing a million times and my answer isn't gonna change. I'm staying for the gators."

"The gators are fine. Ally's serum is keeping them stable. They're gonna stay that way for atleast two months."

At the mention of her, Austin's jaw clenched. "There's other things that need to be done. Pickups, rehabilitation, medical care,-"

"All of which we're capable of doing," Nat interrupted.

They had now pulled over in a small neighbourhood and were about to exit the car.

"Look, I know that we don't connect with them like you do. I get that but I'm sure we'll be alright if you were to go on this expedition for a while. Unless you think otherwise."

At his last words, Austin snapped his head towards Nat who had already unbuckled his seatbelt and hopped out of the car.

"What do yo-" He was cut off once again when Nat shut the door, leaving him inside with Levi in the backseat.

Craning his neck around, Austin looked at his dog. "Well that wasn't very nice."

Levi whined.

"Glad that you agree with me. Let's go."

The two men silently walked up to the correct house and knocked on the door.

Not even two seconds later, it swings open and they come face to face with a middle aged woman.

"Hi there. You got a gator for us." Austin stated more than asked and the lady breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes, I do. Come around back. He's in the swimming pool."

That was common.

Gator strays away from habitat, finds a house with a source of water(pool), takes to it immediately and chills there like a fuckin' boss because it can.

Levi trots alongside Austin and begins lightly growling before they reach the back yard.

"Easy, bud. We'll get him," Austin says.

The three make it into the back yard and immediately spot the animal, swimming around in the fairly large sized pool leisurely.

"We'll have him out in a few, no worries," Nat said to the lady and she nodded.

"That's good but uhh," She looked at them quizzically, "Where's all your equipment?"

The two handlers grinned and Austin held up his bare hands in front of him.

"Right here."

* * *

After loading up the alligator in the truck, the two handlers, now dripping wet, squeezed as much of the water out from their clothes before waving goodbye to the lady and hopping into the truck with Levi settling himself in the back.

"That was fun," Nat said but all Austin did was turn to him and then away.

He twisted the key into the ignition and backed out of the driveway before heading back onto the road to GenRex.

"You know that I'm certain you lot could handle everything without me there, right?"

Nat cleared his throat. "I know that. I also know that you don't think of yourself as superior or anything, it's just that you gotta understand that whether you're there or not, the gators are still gonna be the same. Sure, it'll be tough to control them aswell as you do if anything does happen but you can't just hold yourself back, man."

Austin sighed. "I'm just worried. I don't wanna be away if one of them... Y'know. Dies."

"I know what you mean. Totally," Nat said. "But like I said earlier; Ally's serum is keeping them stable for now. And come on, you aren't actually gonna let her go alone, are you?"

Austin scoffed. "I don't think she'd mind all that much if I don't go. Besides, she can handle herself."

"I'm sure that she can but if you guys end up going it could be alot of hard work. You'll have to work together."

"And suddenly the thought of just staying behind is even sweeter," Austin grunted, causing Nat to laugh and shake his head.

"What happened with the two of you anyway?"

The question caused Austin to grip the steering wheel tighter and he pressed harder on the accelerator.

"Whoa now," Nat said as he watched the needle drift to 55 but he released a breath when Austin slowed down a few seconds after.

The blonde's face was now hard and his jaw was clenched tightly, probably rivaling a gators bite force. It was so different from the friendly expression Nat was accustomed to and it made him stay quiet after letting out, "Sorry I asked."

The edges of Austin's scar began to burn.

"Just don't ask again."

* * *

 **I know that things are abit slow but it** _ **is**_ **just the beginning so the drama and everything will take time. Not too much time though, don't worry.**

 **Just be a bit patient, I've got big plans for this story.**

 **And holy fuck.. You guys 0_0**

 **Ross... Is turning twenty tomorrow.. Where the fuck is time fuckin' flying? I can't bloody keep up! Wow.**

 **And another thing that's getting closer is the series finale of Austin And Ally...**

 **I'm not crying... I swear I'm not crying.. I'm not... Oh god, I'm not ready for it to be over.**

 **I'm gonna bawl my eyes out. I just know it.**

 **Whew... Anyway.. Let me know what you guys think of this chapter. It'll be appreciated greatly :)**

 **If you're interested, follow me on Instagram. OfficialScorpioSmile**

 **Also, if you haven't already, check out my oneshot 'Hybrid' for a lil bit of cuteness.**

 **Love you guys!**

 **PEACE.**


	4. Experiment

**Greetings to my awesome readers! My oh my... Kinda been abit of a wait hey?...**

 **I'm sorry guys. But I'm a senior now and school is hectic.**

 **This is probably gonna be happening alot. The wait between chapters will take a while but I'm gonna try my best to not make ya'll wait TOO long. Please understand though. I just need ya'll to be patient for me, yeah?**

 **You guys know that I love writing so even though updates will take a while, I'll be sure to make it worth the wait :)**

 **Ausllyforever14; As the story goes, you'll get the answers :P Here's your update**

 **Ash; Nice imagination you got goin on :D Lol. Will I continue writing even though A &A is over?... Fuck yes I will continue. I love these characters wayyy too much :P**

 **Guest61865; Here ya go bud! :D**

 **AliMus1c; Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong :P We'll find out as the story goes on. Gah! I miss A &A too!**

 **Oh and to the guest that found the similarities of this story regarding Gator Boys, you're awesome :D Was it the 'Right here' reference that gave it away? :P I love Jimmy Riffle XD**

 **Alright, you guys can read on now...**

* * *

 **Recap: R.D-J**

 **-After internally arguing with her conscience, Allyson decides that putting up with Austin (if he decides to go, that is) would be worth it if a discovery of a whole new world is possible.**

 **If he does in fact join her, she is intent on remaining professional about the entire situation and putting whatever issues that they have with eachother aside.**

 **-While out on a nuisance gator pickup with Austin and Levi, Nat, who is now aware of the possible island, attempts to convince Austin (upon Dezmond's request) to embark on this adventure with Ally.**

 **Austin doesn't say yes to going, but he doesn't exactly say no either. Conversation during the car ride back to GenRex is pretty light until Nat asks a question which results in Austin to tense up.**

" _ **What happened with the two of you anyway?"**_

 _ **The question caused Austin to grip the steering wheel tighter and he pressed harder on the accelerator.**_

" _ **Whoa now," Nat said as he watched the needle drift to 55 but he released a breath when Austin slowed down a few seconds after.**_

 _ **The blonde's face was now hard and his jaw was clenched tightly, probably rivalling a gators bite force. It was so different from the friendly expression Nat was accustomed to and it made him stay quiet after letting out, "Sorry I asked."**_

 _ **The edges of Austin's scar began to burn.**_

" _ **Just don't ask again."**_

* * *

After seeing how Austin reacts, Nat had absolutely _no_ intent of asking that question again.

He had been working with the blonde for a few years now and even though he knew, as did everybody else, that Austin and Ally don't see eye to eye, he had never straight out asked what the deal was.

He had never asked up until three days ago, that is.

It was quite unsettling to Nat. Seeing Austin's face after he had asked him what happened with him and Ally. A hard mask was pulled into place, his eyes flashed with various emotions that Nat couldn't properly decipher and he looked like a completely different person.

Sure, Nat has seen the change in his features whenever Ally is around or whenever he has to interact with her but he has never seen him look quite like _that_.

Once they had reached GenRex and hopped out of the truck, Nat briefly wondered if Ally would have the same reaction.

Frankly though after seeing Austin's reaction, he didn't really want to find out even though he was curious about the both of them and their tense/awkward relationship. (If you could call it that)

Anyway, after the two of them had placed the new gator into an enclosure, Austin muttered out something about feeding Levi which left Nat to alert the lab that the new alligator would have to be injected with the serum.

Like mentioned earlier, that was three days ago and even though Austin was back to normal the day after, Nat did his best not to mention Ally in any way at all.

Austin still hadn't given a clear answer on whether he will or will not be going on the expedition and as of right now, Dez is ready to burst.

"As your boss, I _order_ you to accompany Ally on this expedition!" The redhead yelled and Austin gave him a bored look.

The two were in the new alligator's enclosure checking her vitals and Dez had decided to hound Austin about the island again.

"Really, Dez? Just a few days ago you said that you wouldn't force me if I really didn't wanna go."

Dez's shoulders fell and he pouted.

Literally pouted.

Austin rolled his eyes at his boss and shook his head. "I'm still thinkin' it over, alright? I haven't said no."

Dez sighed and swung his stethoscope around in his hand, making his way out of the enclosure with Austin trailing behind.

The alligator is doing quite fine. She had been injected with the serum by Ally and the mentioned brunette was extremely pleased that it (the serum) was working well for the gators.

"Well you really need to give me an answer soon. There are arrangements that I need to make."

Austin groaned. "Yeah, yeah, alright."

After seeing Dez out of the new gators enclosure, Austin hung back and perched himself onto a rock while watching said new gator as she ambled about her new home.

As he had been watching her, various thoughts ran through his mind.

Almost all of them dealing with what could happen if he did in fact decide to go with Ally.

 _The other handlers may need his help if something happens._

 _One of the gators could go out of control and he wouldn't be there._

 _Jaws might disappear again or worse; he could escape from his enclosure, given his hulking size and unpredictable nature._

 _Ally's serum might stop working and the rage stage could run amok all that much quicker._

Austin had shaken his head at the last thought.

That woman is incredibly smart. No denying it, no matter how much he despises her and how he always tells Dez that he has too much faith in her. There's an extremely miniscule chance of any of her work failing.

And if any of her work _did_ fail, she'd just come up with a solution in less than five seconds.

The gators are in good hands. The rest of the handlers are completely capable.

So really, there isn't anything stopping Austin from joining Ally on this expedition.

Austin scoffed.

 _I'm really considering this?_

He shook his head, running his hands through his hair before getting off the rock and heading out of the enclosure.

He began walking towards his black Harley Davidson when he noticed Nat sprinting down the dirt path.

He almost barrelled into Austin but caught himself just in time, all the while breathing heavily and pointing behind him frantically.

"You gotta-Lab-Dez-Go," He huffed out and Austin raised his eyebrows but didn't question him.

Hopping onto his bike, he kicked it to a start and zoomed up the dirt path, heading to the main building of GenRex where he swerved to a stop and raced inside, pass the front desk and up to the lab.

"Dez?" Austin called out as soon as he entered.

Dez, who was running up and down the width of the lab grabbing various beakers and items, only spared the blond a glance before muffling through a pair of tongs in his mouth.

"Follow me."

Austin did so and found himself on the next floor of the building.

He didn't come into this room that much seeing as how he only interacted with Dez on a daily basis and the mentioned red-head usually did all his work in the lab one floor down.

This lab is significantly larger than the one downstairs but understandably so since it has to accommodate all the people in it.

Austin took in the place as he trailed after Dez. There were probably about twenty to thirty people in it and they were all decked out in their lab coats, some with safety goggles perched on their heads.

The white fluorescent lighting that was even more striking when it caught the shine of all the tubes, beakers, various fluids and slides had Austin squinting as he came to a stop next to Dez who had led him to a steel desk where he placed all the items that he had in his hand and mouth.

An 800ml beaker was also placed on the desk and its contents were currently empty. Next to it, was a syringe, also empty.

Austin glanced at some of the other objects on the desk before looking at Dez who was constantly looking over his shoulder. Just as Austin was about to ask what the heck was going on, Dez yelled.

"Where is she? Where is Ally?!"

Austin internally groaned but held his annoyance at bay since whatever is happening right now is important.

A few employees who were bustling about the lab almost as frantically as Dez while mumbling and calling out for assistance turned towards their boss and gave a quick shrug of the shoulders or a 'No idea' before resuming the franticness.

"What in the hell is goin' on, Dez?" Austin finally asked after Dez again looked over his shoulder for the short brunette woman.

As if just remembering that Austin is there, Dez snapped his head towards the gator handler and shook his head, exhaling heavily.

"We found something. Something that might help us understand what this virus actually is."

Austin's eyes widened. "Wha-You're serious?"

Dez nodded. "Uh huh. You know how it attacks the brain and whenever we try to locate it, it sort of just disappears but it's still somehow there?"

At Austin's nod, Dez went on to say, "Well this time we actually did find something but we aren't sure if it's the actual virus. Definitely something though. Now would someone _PLEASE_ find Ally!"

" _You_ are supposed to come to _me_!"

Austin looked up at the sound of her voice and through the other employees, saw her up on a platform in front of a steel door, glaring daggers at Dez.

Her cheeks were currently flushed. Probably from excitement or anger, Austin didn't know which.

"Aw hell," Austin mumbled in annoyance and noticed her flick her gaze to him for a nanosecond before looking back at their boss.

He didn't miss the clench of her jaw at seeing him.

After avoiding her for around a week now, her sudden appearance caught Austin off guard and without even intending to, he quickly scanned her up and down, his gaze lingering abit too long on the yellow blouse that was adorning her upper body underneath her crisp and ever-clean lab coat.

Her pink, pouty lips were pursed and her hair rolled down her shoulders like waves of melted chocolate.

"Crap," He heard Dez mutter, pulling him out of his little staring session of the brunette. The red-head now sported a sheepish look on his freckled face and he began picking up the items on the desk, gesturing for Austin to grab some stuff too.

From her position up on the platform, Ally rolled her eyes at her boss's antics and bit back a groan from taking in the sight of Austin.

His scar looked alot more faded than it actually is, given the brightness of the room and as if they had a mind of their own, her hazel eyes zoned in on his strong jaw that flexed in exasperation when Dez shoved something into his arms unceremoniously, causing him to slightly stumble before following their boss towards her.

Once they were a few steps away from her, Ally spun on her heel and yanked the steel door open before ushering the two men inside and then following in aswell, closing the door behind them.

The room that they entered was reserved for minor tests and unlike outside, it was relatively dim in here, given that the only light source came from four old bulbs dangling from the ceiling and a lone window that needed some serious cleaning.

"You never did get around to fixin' this place up, did you?" Austin grumbled as he tripped over an empty box that was left on the floor.

Despite the question being rhetorical, Dez still answered him with a little bit of defensiveness in his tone. "It isn't that bad. Besides, I doubt that I ever will fix it up. I like it like this."

Dragging a desk from the corner of the room, Ally huffed out, "Like what? All old and dusty?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Dez answered without a beat and Austin shook his head.

"How bout we just get on with whatever this is?"

"How's about you have some patience?" Ally snapped at him, earning herself a glare in return.

"I don't wanna hear this from the two of you right now," Dez warned.

"She started it," Austin muttered and Ally narrowed her eyes at him.

"This is why I suggested you bring Nat in instead," She said, turning to Dez who just sighed.

Austin huffed out a breath. "Oh you'd _love_ that wouldn't you?"

Snapping her head to Austin, Ally growled, "Oh I r _eally_ would! He'd be far easier to work with anyway!"

Austin tilted his head and gave her a look of mock sympathy. "Aww I'm sorry, Ally Marie. Am I makin' things difficult for you? Cause I'd be completely fine with fetching Nat to replace me in here."

Dez, who was standing next to the desk with his arms folded and with an exasperated look on his face, cut Ally off from whatever she was about to yell. "You're not going anywhere. Besides, Nat is busy with the alligators."

Austin spoke through gritted teeth and threw the brunette's words back at her. "All the better. The gators are far easier to work with anyway."

"Bite me," Ally hissed and Austin felt his scar begin to burn.

"If you keep pumping that little mouth of yours, I just might," Austin growled and Ally took a step towards him, her eyes flashing with anger.

"Threaten me again and I'll rip your fucking hair clean off your skull."

"ENOUGH!" Dez yelled and walked over to the two, pushing them away from eachother.

"We have work to do! If the two of you keep this up, I'll do w _ay_ worse than biting and ripping hair off of skulls!"

The two employees glared at eachother one last time before exhaling heavily and stepping back further.

Dez shook his head again and moved away, muttering 'Unbelievable' under his breath before turning his attention to the items in front of him that he had set on the desk Ally brought over.

"Alright, let's set this stuff up. Austin, hand me that beaker.

As he did what Dez asked, Austin eyed the rest of the items and equipment that they brought in.

"All of this is needed?" He asked and Dez looked confused for a second before waving a dismissive hand.

"No, no. I just needed to get all of this in here. Was taking up space. This experiment that we're about to conduct is actually really simple."

Austin stared at his boss and shook his head. "Alright then."

Ally, who had her back turned to the two, faced them which allowed Austin to see her with another beaker in her hand. It was halfway filled with what looked like blood and she was stirring it with a small steel tube.

"Ally, I need you start that boiler up," Dez said while he was filling up a syringe with the serum that Ally created.

"Uh huh, okay," Ally said and quickly glanced at Austin before striding towards him.

He raised a brow at her and she held out the beaker to him. He took it, still staring at her and with utmost order and professionalism, she said, "Keep stirring it. Don't let it thicken."

Austin obliged and she spun around to get the boiler going, her hair whipping across his face.

He's 99.9% sure that she did it on purpose to get under his skin.

It worked.

The blond resisted the urge to cuss at her and just simply kept stirring, all the while trying to ignore the smell of her fruity shampoo that had shot up his nostrils.

Once the boiler was set up, Dez placed a beaker atop it.

"What is that?" Austin asked, referring to the white looking liquid that was in the beaker.

"Coconut water. The consistency is pretty similar to cerebrospinal fluid."

"That's the stuff found in the brain and spine, right?" Austin inquired and Dez nodded in acknowledgment.

"Correct."

Ally took the syringe filled with the serum from Dez and squirted it carefully into a test tube before glancing at the coconut water.

"Okay, all set," She said and Dez took a deep breath.

"Alright, just to go over what we're hoping for; we're gonna transfer the serum into the alligator blood where we found a trace of s _omething_ ," He gestured to the beaker of blood that Austin was still steadily stirring.

"We wait for a few seconds before transferring _that_ into the coconut water. If we get a reaction, it means that we are most definitely onto something," He ended with a look of hopefulness and Ally nodded.

"Right then. Let's get to it."

Austin wordlessly handed the beaker to Ally and she transferred the serum into it, giving it a few gentle back and forth shakes while Dez looked on anxiously, clutching his notebook that he brought in with him.

After a few moments, Ally took a deep breath and poured the blood into the coconut water.

Dez adjusted the temperature and stepped back, Ally doing the same.

"How long till a reaction?" Austin asked, his eyes set on the mixture.

From the corner of his eye he saw Dez shrug lightly. "Not very long. Couple minutes."

However, after only ten seconds of the blood being poured in, the mixture began to bubble lightly.

Ally raised her eyebrows and Austin stepped closer to get a better look.

"More like couple seconds," He murmured and Dez just about fainted with happiness.

His happiness was soon turned to dread though, when the mixture began to bubble more violently, occasionally spitting out spurts of the mixture.

"Uh oh," Ally choked out and Austin stepped back.

"Hit the deck!" Dez yelled just as the beaker overflowed with the mixture and exploded with a _bang!_

Glass shattered in all directions as the beaker was destroyed, the pieces barely missing the three as they dove for the floor, shielding themselves from the hot mixture and flying glass.

Dez was curled up on the floor with his hands over his head and his eyes screwed shut tightly.

Ally was on her back, her head turned to the side and only after the shock wore off did she come to the realisation of a weight on top of her.

It was Austin.

Seemingly also coming to the realisation the same time as her, Austin lifted himself onto his elbows, coming face to face with Ally beneath him, their bodies pressed together.

With a grunt and as if he had gotten burned, Austin scrambled off the brunette and shot up from the floor, dusting himself off. The two didn't look eachother in the eye or say anything as Austin held a hand out to her.

His jaw flexed when her small hand curled into his and he helped her up.

They both let go immediately and Ally dusted herself off aswell, trying and failing to get her heart to stop racing.

Not paying attention towards the exchange between the two, Dez got up from the floor, not even bothering to right his clothes and mussed up hair. Rather; he stared at the now destroyed station that they set up with his mouth slightly hanging open.

"Oh yeah. We're _definitely_ onto something."

* * *

 **Thats a wrap.**

 **Stuff will pick up speed as the story progresses, okay? I know it's a lil slow now.**

 **Btw, I kinda used a little idea from the TV series 'Zoo' for one of the scenes. It sort of just fit..**

 **Anyway, tell me what you guys think by leaving me a review :)**

 **Follow me on Instagram too if you'd like. I go by:**

 **OfficialScorpioSmile**

 **If you follow me, I'll most likely ask you to follow my personal account too XD**

 **I love getting to know you guys.**

 **Alright so that's pretty much it. Hope the chapter was okay.**

 **Let me know.**

 **Love You Guys!**

 **PEACE.**


	5. Salties

**YOU'RE MY BOOMBOX, BABY!**

 **Holy crap, you guys! Did ya'll watch the music video? Damn! If ya'll didn't, go and fucking watch it! OMG Laura did such a good job! The entire thing is so bloody epic!**

 **Seriously, as a fan, I'm so damn proud of her! AND holy husky, her DANCING! I'm seeing hashtags like 'RIPTheAllyWay' XD She's got some serious moves in this video holy shit.**

 **Ah, okay okay. Sorry for fangirling like that but I can't help it. I actually wanna say more but I'm sure ya'll wanna get on with the story XD**

 **Anyway, here is the next chap of, well, this story :P I hope you guys like it!**

 **TheOceanStar: I'm sometimes too lazy to login too, so no worries, bud :P And Trish, well I do plan on including her. Ya'll just might havta wait till later on in the story though.**

 **AusllyForever14: Heeeeere ya go! And no worries, you didn't come off as rude :D I was quite flattered, really.**

 **Guest61865: Your eagerness warms me. Here's your update :)**

 **African King: I'm sorry about the wait between chapters :( Writers block is a bitch.**

 **Alright, that takes care of the reviews left by my amazing and lovely readers. (I'm such a suck-up; I could put a vacuum cleaner to shame.)**

 **On with the story now.**

 **Read on...**

* * *

 **Recap: R.D-J**

 **-GenRex discovers something in the blood of one of the alligators which could aid in finding out exactly what the virus is.**

 **Despite the ongoing hatred between the two, Dezmond enlists the help of Austin and Ally with the experiment regarding GenRex's latest discovery.**

 **-The three conduct the experiment and step back, hoping for a reaction which would allow them to come to the conclusion that they are in fact on to something.**

 **A reaction is what they get... One that has them cowering for safety.**

" _ **Hit the deck!" Dez yelled just as the beaker overflowed with the mixture and exploded with a bang!**_

 _ **Glass shattered in all directions as the beaker was destroyed, the pieces barely missing the three as they dove for the floor, shielding themselves from the hot mixture and flying glass.**_

 _ **Dez was curled up on the floor with his hands over his head and his eyes screwed shut tightly.**_

 _ **Ally was on her back, her head turned to the side and only after the shock wore off did she come to the realisation of a weight on top of her.**_

 _ **It was Austin.**_

 _ **Seemingly also coming to the realisation the same time as her, Austin lifted himself onto his elbows, coming face to face with Ally beneath him, their bodies pressed together.**_

 _ **With a grunt and as if he had gotten burned, Austin scrambled off the brunette and dusted himself off. The two didn't look eachother in the eye or say anything as Austin held a hand out to her.**_

 _ **His jaw flexed when her small hand curled into his and he helped her up.**_

 _ **They both let go immediately and Ally dusted herself off aswell, trying and failing to get her heart to stop racing.**_

 _ **Not paying attention towards the exchange between the two, Dez got up from the floor, not even bothering to right his clothes and mussed up hair. Rather; he stared at the now destroyed station that they set up with his mouth slightly hanging open.**_

" _ **Oh yeah. We're definitely on to something."**_

* * *

Having found something in the blood of one of GenRex's gators and having gotten results, the chances of creating and or finding a cure to the entire alligator situation is slowly rising.

So, with the rest of the blood from the alligator now gone for further testing, Dez is hyped up like never before and ever since the experiment a week ago, he and Ally have been going over possible ways on how to go about finding a cure.

"How about a reverse effect?" Ally suggested.

She and Dez are currently in the lab, jotting down notes in their respective notebooks and conducting little tests here and there.

Dez had just turned his head towards the brunette when he caught sight of Austin who entered the lab.

"Reverse effect?" The blond asked, having heard the suggestion.

Ally looked over her shoulder to glance at him, not at all hiding her annoyance from her features. She turned back to Dez and rolled her eyes.

"Yes, a reverse effect. It could work if we discover exactly what the virus is. Not a hundred percent chance at success but it is likely."

Dez pondered over her suggestion and hummed. "Yeah, it could work. Might be a few bumps in the road but I'm sure we'd be able to pull it off."

Austin ambled his way towards the two and took a seat on one of the stools next to a metal desk while he tossed the term 'Reverse Effect' around in his head for a few moments before speaking.

"So you find out whatever this virus is and have it do the opposite of what it's currently doing?"

"Exactly," Dez said with a grin. "You know you'd probably do well in here if you weren't so good with the alligators."

Austin scoffed. "I'd get real bored in here real quick." He then looked over at Ally. "Plus, the gators are _much_ better company."

The brunette shot him an overly sweet smile and raised her hand, flipping him the finger. "Fuck you."

"You'd love that, wouldn't you, Ally Marie?" Austin drawled.

"The both of you behave," Dez said without looking up from whatever he was scribbling into his heavy notebook.

Choosing to heed her boss' order, Ally ignores Austin's comment and settles for flipping him off again before turning to her own notes.

However, it is only silent for a few minutes and a thought strikes Ally.

"Why are you in here?" She asks Austin in a sharp tone, again; not hiding her annoyance.

Austin looked away from one of the beakers he was staring at and glanced at the brunette before settling his gaze on their boss.

"Uhh, well..."

At this, Dez looks up from his notebook and squints at the blond. "Well what?"

Austin sighed and shook his head, running his fingers through his hair. "That whole island thing, is it still happening?"

The question caused the red-head to freeze and he looked between the two before slowly setting his heavy notebook onto a desk, biting back a grin. He cleared his throat and Ally narrowed her eyes.

"What?" She asked, setting her own notebook down.

Clearing his throat again, Dez brushed of Ally's question and looked at Austin. "Uhm, why do you ask?"

With his eyes also narrowed suspiciously, Austin chooses to ignore (for now) Dez's weird reaction to his question and instead answers, "Well, we've been gettin' a couple calls. People complainin' about gators around the shores."

Ally pursed her lips after hearing Austin's words. That had briefly slipped her mind. Not only have the alligators begun breeding in California and living around rivers and lakes, they've also taken to the seas.

What's interesting is that even though it isn't unheard of, it isn't very common for alligators to take to saltwater. They prefer freshwater lakes, rivers and marshes while it is a few types of crocodiles who will usually prefer saltwater.

(They are affectionately called 'Salties' while their freshwater relatives are called, that's right, 'Freshies')

Salties are able to survive in saltwater thanks to the presence of salt glands on the surface of their tongues. (Yes, contrary to popular belief, crocodiles have tongues.)

How the alligators are now surviving in saltwater is still a mystery, seeing as how they do not possess these salt glands.

Austin went on to say, "The gators around the shores are pretty small. Most of them are babies. The rest of the crew and I believe that the bigger guys are also in the sea but further out."

Dez hummed and folded his arms across his chest. "So why are the little ones coming to shore?"

Austin shrugged once. "We're not entirely sure but that's part of why I'm here."

"I'm listening," Dez said.

"Well, when I saw the footage with the Pterosaur, I noticed alot of smaller islands scattered about. I figured that's where the alligators are takin' up residence."

Ally cut in then. "You _also_ figured that if we had to go out and find that possible island of Dez's, we'd need transportation."

Mildly taken aback by her cutting voice of accusation, Austin clenched his teeth. "Did I ask you to speak for me, Ally Marie?"

"I'm sorry, am I missing something here?" Dez asked, glancing between the two who were currently having a heated stare off.

Peeling her steely gaze away from Austin's, Ally looked at Dez. "He knows that you've made arrangements to get us out to sea and if my assumptions are correct, he intends to make use of those arrangements to go out there and find the alligators."

Dez turned to the blond who was glaring daggers at the woman who shot him a smartass grin.

"That true?"

Austin shut his eyes and sighed, rubbing the edges of his scar gently. "Yeah, that's true."

Dez's shoulders drooped. "So you came in here not to give me confirmation of you going, but to ask if you could use my arrangements to get one of those alligators?"

Austin groaned and threw his head back in annoyance. "Dang it, Dez, I just wanna do my job, alright?"

"Look, I understand that but the reason why those alligators haven't been studied is because they're even more aggressive than the ones we have here and they're too far out at-"

Austin cut in, " _Exactly_! They're far out and your damn island that you insist exists is even _further_ out!"

Dez rubbed soothing circles over his temples and sighed. "Okay, okay, touché. Overall though, what are you saying?"

Ally, who had been closely watching the two, watched as Austin rubbed at the back of his neck, letting out a sigh.

"I'm saying that it'll be a win-win for the both of us. I wanna know how these alligators can suddenly survive in saltwater and you wanna find this island. Allow me to use whatever transportation you've arranged and I'll go out and catch one of those gators."

"And? How is it a win for me?" Dez asked.

Austin tilted his head to the side. "You mean getting one of those gators back here to study wouldn't be a win for you?"

Dez threw his hands up in the air and exclaimed, "You make it sound as if I don't care about these alligators! Of course it would be a win, I just wanna know how this all ties in with that island."

" _Possible_ island," Ally corrected, earning herself a glare from the red-head.

"Fine, the po _ssible_ island," Said red-head muttered dejectedly.

Austin pursed his lips and quickly flicked his gaze to Ally before bringing it back to Dez.

"Alright, look, like I said; I wanna know more about those alligators and you wanna find this island. Get me a boat or whatever to go out, allow me to catch one of those gators and..." He trailed off, shaking his head before looking back at Dez who was listening intently.

"And?" Dez prompted.

Austin again flicked his gaze to the brunette woman before looking back at Dez.

"And I'll accompany her on that expedition."

Ally raised her brows and turned to Dez, awaiting his reaction.

The aforementioned man stared at Austin before grinning excitedly. "Great! That's great!"

 _Yeah, great,_ Ally thought sarcastically as she watched an excited Dez pat Austin on the back.

"So we got a deal?" Austin asked.

Dez grabbed the blonds' hand and gave it a firm but enthusiastic shake.

"We've got a deal!"

* * *

Austin had left the lab after that to tend to Jaws, (The freakishly large alligator) **(1)** who had somehow escaped from his enclosure again. This left Ally and Dez to their own work.

For a good few minutes, the two worked in silence when Ally decided to break it with a question.

"When Austin asked you if the expedition was still happening, why did you look so amused?"

Dez's hand froze in midair and he brought the beaker down to set on the desk, looking to his left at Ally at the other side of the room.

"Oh, uhh, no reason, really."

Ally turned to him fully, resting her gloved hands on her hips with a pointed look on her face. "Dez," She said sternly.

The red-head willed himself not to smile and spoke in his most convincing voice. "I just knew that he would come around sooner or later. I mean, come on! He's gotta be as excited about this possible island aswell, you know?"

Ally narrowed her eyes suspiciously but let the matter go with a shrug of her shoulders, turning back to her beakers and test tubes. "Whatever."

Dez turned to his own work aswell, letting the smile that he had been holding off grace his features.

 _Oh, Austin and Ally. What am I going to do with you two?_ He thought while shaking his head with the small smile still set on his face.

"Alright, big guy. Get inside."

The large animal manoeuvred his massive form forward, following Austin into the familiar enclosure.

Austin moved aside and allowed Jaws to enter fully, carefully slipping past him and giving him a small pat on his tail before closing the gate. "That's a good boy. Now you stay put, yeah? Or no lunch."

He watched as the giant slipped into the pool, submerging himself.

"Not like you need it," Austin muttered with a chuckle, shaking his head.

The blond was just about to go check on Maggie when he ran into Nat.

"Sup, Austin," The other handler greeted him with his usual head nod and smile.

"Hey, man. I was just headin' over to check on Maggie."

Nat waved a dismissive hand. "I just got back from her enclosure, actually. She's a strong girl, holding up nicely."

Austin nodded approvingly.

"Looks like her serum is doin' a good job then," He said, referring to Ally and Nat smiled, nodding his head.

"Yeah, she did good. Pretty amazing of her."

Austin's eyebrows slowly rose up as he took in the sight of Nat's dreamy smile.

"Amazing, huh? You got a little crush on her?"

At the question, Nat snapped out of his daze and looked at Austin wide eyed. The blond was staring at him, eyebrows still raised with a small smirk resting tightly on his lips.

"Wha-? No! No, nothing like that."

Austin gave him a deadpan look, his features clearly saying 'I don't believe you for a second'

Nat sighed. "I just think she's really good at what she does. That's all," He ended with a shrug and ran his fingers through his black hair.

Austin felt his scar begin to burn.

"Yeah, alright. I'm gonna go." Before he could even end his sentence, he was already a few feet behind Nat, heading towards the dirt path.

"Where you off to?" Nat called after him.

"The lab," Was Austin's answer. He kicked his bike to a start and took off up the path.

* * *

With Dez now in the lab on the next floor, Ally was left to her own devices. She was in the process of scanning a tail sample from one of the newer alligators when she heard the door to the lab being pushed open.

The blond entered and shut the door, his eyes immediately raking up and down the figure of the brunette whose back was turned to him.

Without intending to, his gaze settled on the backs of her shapely legs that were adorned by a pair of jeans which were visible, thanks to her lab coat being knee length. Her black, clean and squeaky Converse sneakers were the total opposite of his black outdoor boots that were caked with dry mud and dirt.

He always made sure though, that he didn't leave any muddy footprints on the floors of the facility. Dez would have an aneurism.

Thinking that it was one of the other lab employees that entered, Ally kept to her work and assumed that whoever it was would either head up to the other lab or do whatever it is that they needed without disturbing her.

However, that assumption was proved wrong when she heard the familiar voice come from behind her.

"How'd you know?"

Letting out a breath, Ally rolled her eyes and turned away from her work station to face the interruption.

Ignoring his question to her, she asked one of her own. "I get that this is sort of a regular thing now, but do you _have_ to constantly disturb me from my work?"

Austin mock pouted and stepped down the few steps from the doorway. "Do you not enjoy my visits, Ally Marie?"

"Oh, I love them. They're the best parts of my day, actually."

Pretending as if he didn't catch on to her sarcasm, Austin sucked in a breath through his teeth and shook his head in mock sympathy. "That's pretty awkward since I positively despise _your_ company."

Grinding her teeth together, Ally willed herself not to give in and completely lash out on the blond. Choosing to fold her arms across her chest to avoid slapping his annoying face, she asked, "Oh yeah? Then why are you still here? If you haven't noticed, Dez isn't here so you could just..." She made shooing gestures with her hand towards the door.

Austin stared blankly at her, not moving from his spot.

Dropping her hands to her side, Ally spoke through clenched teeth. "I'm sorry, do you not understand? Get the fuck out, Austin. I've got work to do."

She turned back to her station, fully aware that he still didn't make a move to exit.

"You still didn't answer my question."

Groaning, Ally made a move to turn around again, intent on cussing him out so he'll leave her to work in peace.

When she turned around though, her words didn't get a chance to leave her lips and they retreated, turning into a lump that lodged itself in the back of her throat once she took in the sight of Austin towering over her.

She hadn't even heard him move towards her.

His eyes bore into hers, his jaw was clenched and his scar seemed to appear redder than the usual reddish-pink that she was accustomed to.

Her eyes flicked down to his lips briefly before looking back into his eyes. Despite the tense situation, they still remained warm and inviting.

However, they did harbour a certain heat that was solely reserved for her and her bitchy attitude.

After a few moments of the stare off, Austin seemed to snap out of it and came to realise their close proximity.

He took a step back and sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"How'd you know?" He repeated his question, his voice low and rough.

Seemingly also snapping out of whatever she was under, Ally narrowed her eyes. "Know what? Could you be specific?" She spat and Austin stared at her before shoving his hands into his pockets.

"How'd you know that I wanted to use whatever transportation Dez arranged?"

At this, Ally dropped her hard look and pursed her lips.

She shrugged casually and without looking him in the eye, she muttered, "Because I know you."

Austin raised his brows in disbelief and scoffed. "Do you now?"

Bringing her gaze back to him, Ally bit her lip and stood her ground, slightly raising her nose into the air.

"Yeah, I do." She spoke firmly and Austin took his hands out of his pockets, taking a step closer to her.

"You know me? Alright. How well?" He challenged and still standing her ground, Ally clenched her jaw muscles before answering calmly.

"Quite well."

Austin took another step forward. "Yeah? I find that hard to believe."

Another step forward. He was now, once again, towering over her, looking into those melted pools of dark chocolate intently.

"Because I recall a time where you seemed to not know me _at all_."

Ally's strong attitude slightly faltered at this and she looked away from the blonds' piercing gaze.

"Fuck you, Austin Moon."

His jaw clenched. "Wouldn't you love that?"

Ally snapped her now angry gaze at him and having enough of the blond, she slipped past him. Before she could move away completely though, Austin grabbed her upper arm, ignoring the tingle that raced up his own arm.

"Why?" He asked in a demanding tone.

The one word question caused Ally's chest to tighten. She roughly pulled out of his grasp and shot him a steely gaze but after a few seconds, she sighed and looked away from him again. "I have work to do. Leave," She said sternly but he didn't move a muscle.

The two stood in silence for what seemed like forever but in reality, it was only a couple seconds when the elevator dinged and out came their boss.

"Good news, guys. Next week, Austin gets to go out and bring back a saltwater gator. Then the following week, you both are set for the expedition!" He ended off enthusiastically but his excited grin dropped when he took in the tense atmosphere.

"Uhm, everything alright?" Dez asked uncertainly.

Austin turned to Dez. "Everything's fine," He answered, glancing back at Ally one more time before exiting the lab.

* * *

 ***Dez voice* AAAAAAND CUT!**

 **That's a wrap.**

 **Let me know what you guys think.**

 **Alright, so still alot of questions that I promise, will be answered as the story goes along. The next chapter is actually where stuff really picks up speed. What I mean by that is Auslly will be heading out in search of this island soon. Soon meaning most probably in chapter seven. So gear up, yeah?**

 **(1) In the first chap, I mentioned that Jaws is almost ten feet. This was a mistake. In my story, he's actually around sixteen/seventeen feet.**

 **Oh! And tomorrow, I shall be getting my wisdom teeth removed which means I'll then have to recover for like a week, I think. So no school! Not really sure if I should say 'Yay!' or not since I'll be missing alot of work -_- Fuck you, senior year.**

 **Anyway, do tell me what ya'll think about this chapter. Getting reviews from you guys really makes me happy :)**

 **Btw, Blood Moon will be updated next so stay tuned.**

 **Follow me on Instagram if you'd like for sneak peeks and updates on my stories. OfficialScorpioSmile**

 **Love you guys!**

 **PEACE.**


	6. A Favour

**Hey, hey, hey, my loyal and ever so patient (at times :P) Pack Buddies! Here's chapter six of Repeating Days-Jurassic. It's quite short and I actually would have written more but guys... I'm not really in the best of moods so I apologize if ya'll don't really enjoy this... :/**

 **But I know that you guys are really understanding and you all know that we just have those days and since I'm only human; I'm obviously gonna experience those days/situations aswell... However! You guys always cheer me up so let's have some shout-outs, yeah?**

 **AusllyForever14: Fuck, you're so sweet :D Thanks for the support, I'm so happy that you're enjoying this. And yeah... Things are gettin' intense :D**

 **AfricanKing: I promise, their past will be revealed in small bits as the story goes on. Hope you enjoy this chap!**

 **Desperate: LOL, your review name XD Is it bad that I'm feeling a tad proud that you're so into this story? Haha. Thank you though, I'm legit glad that you're enjoying it. Here's your update.**

 **I replied to most of you directly so check your PM's! :)**

 **Okay then, that's it for now.**

 **Read on...**

* * *

 **Recap: R.D-J**

 **-Austin makes a deal with Dez regarding the expedition on which he was asked to accompany Ally.**

 **He will make use of Dez's transport arrangements and go out to sea in order to bring back a gator that can now survive in saltwater. In return, he will accompany Ally on the expedition to locate and explore Dez's island.**

 **-While busy with some work in the lab, Ally is visited by Austin who confronts her in regards to an earlier situation.**

 **As always, tension soon follows their interaction with one another...**

 _Ally snapped her now angry gaze at him and having enough of the blond, she slipped past him. Before she could move away completely though, Austin grabbed her upper arm, ignoring the tingle that raced up his own arm._

 _"Why?" He asked in a demanding tone._

 _The one word question caused Ally's chest to tighten. She roughly pulled out of his grasp and shot him a steely gaze but after a few seconds, she sighed and looked away from him again. "I have work to do. Leave," She said sternly but he didn't move a muscle._

 _The two stood in silence for what seemed like forever but in reality, it was only a couple seconds when the elevator dinged and out came their boss._

 _"Good news, guys. Next week, Austin gets to go out and bring back a saltwater gator. Then the following week, you both are set for the expedition!" He ended off enthusiastically but his excited grin dropped when he took in the tense atmosphere._

 _"Uhm, everything alright?" Dez asked uncertainly._

 _Austin turned to Dez. "Everything's fine," He answered, glancing back at Ally one more time before exiting the lab._

* * *

"Fuck! Why?!"

Dezmond swung around at Ally's outburst, his eyebrows disappearing under his hairline.

Having accidentally knocked down a beaker filled with water and a drop of freshwater crocodile blood, the brunette was hurriedly mopping up the small mess with an old rag, her nostrils flaring and her fists clenched.

Dez watched on in silence until she had cleaned up the mess, her features still twisted into a mask of annoyance and frustration.

"Stupid beaker," She muttered and disposed of the worn out, filthy rag.

Eyebrows still raised, Dez set the pair of tongs in his hand onto his desk and removed the safety goggles from atop his red hair. "Aren't you cheerful this afternoon," He said while smiling at her teasingly.

Ally scoffed and rolled her eyes.

She had been like this since the morning. Frantically running around, getting things done, doing whatever work she could, messing up now and then.

Dez didn't need to ask what was wrong. He's worked with her long enough to know that she was still coming to grips with leaving all her work here in order to head out on the expedition.

Ignoring Dez's sarcastic remark, Ally continued to busy herself, immersing herself as much as she could into her work.

"Would you stop for a minute? You're making me dizzy," Dez said as he watched her dash all around the lab.

She didn't let up and grabbed another beaker.

"What are you even _doing_?" He asked as she added water into the beaker aswell as more crocodile (freshwater) blood.

Without looking up, she answered, "Alligators and crocodiles are relatively similar to each other. I'm trying to see what makes crocodiles immune to this virus."

Dez nodded in understanding but frowned when he remembered something. "Wait. Didn't you _just_ ask Jenna to look into the same thing?" He asked, referring to another employee in the upper level lab.

Ally froze and pursed her lips. "No."

"Ally," Dez said, sending her deadpan look.

"I'm just looking into it too, okay? We could work faster that way."

Dez shook his head and walked over to the brunette, taking the beaker away from her before she could do anything else. She didn't resist but she didn't look pleased either.

"You need to stop," Dez said sternly.

"No," She said and reached for the beaker but Dez pulled it out of her reach and placed it onto his own desk a few feet away.

"Yes, you do," He insisted. "Look, I know that you're not so thrilled about temporarily putting a stop to your research here but everything is under control. We're looking into our results with the cerebrospinal fluid experiment, the gators are under control and happy, and your serum is what's keeping them like that. For now, everything is okay and you can take a breather. You've done plenty."

"Sure, I've done plenty but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty more to do!" Ally said loudly and brushed her fingers through her brunette waves.

The red-head rolled his eyes before bringing up his hands to massage at his temples, seeking some form of patience. "And there are _plenty_ people here! I assure you; we are not going to drop all our research, Ally. I get that you're extremely dedicated to your work here but this island could be a major breakthrough!"

Ally sighed. "Okay, you're right. I'm just... All this work, you know?"

Dez relaxed his posture and smiled warmly at Ally. "We'll handle it. You're one of my absolute best employees, Ally. I love your dedication, you know that. But right now, I need you to help me with this island. You're one of the few people that I'm trusting with this."

"One of those people includes Austin Moon," Ally muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, Austin is one of those people. Suck it up, Dawson," Dez chuckled.

Ally dropped her shoulders and huffed out a breath. "Yeah, whatever."

"Have you even packed?"

A sheepish smile adorned Ally's face. "Uhm, I'm getting there."

Dez didn't look amused. "You haven't started, have you?"

A shake of the head from the brunette answered his question, causing him to shake his head again, letting out a sigh. "You're impossible. You guys are leaving in a week. Regardless of the fact that we haven't seen this island, we're certain that it's there. So you need to be packed and ready to camp where necessary."

Ally shrugged. "A week. We're leaving in a week. I have plenty of time to pack."

"Doesn't matter if it's a week or a month; there could be a change of plans so you need to be ready, regardless of the situation."

"Well Austin still has to go out and catch a saltwater gator, we aren't leaving until he does, right?" Ally asked while waving a dismissive hand. Dez crossed his arms over his chest, willing himself not to just push the brunette out of the lab and force her home to just r _elax_.

Apart from wanting her to pack, he really does believe that she needs to rest. Seriously, the girl works nonstop!

"I know I set aside a week for him to do just that but it's Austin. He'll have a gator back by today if the situation calls for it."

Ally rolled her eyes at the praise directed at Austin. "And he says you have too much faith in _me_."

Dez stared at her.

She threw her hands up in the air. "Okay! Look, I'll start packing tomorrow!"

Dez immediately shook his head in disagreement. "No, no, no, no. You will start the moment you get back home. So leave. Right now."

"It isn't even 17:00!" Ally argued. "I'm not heading home yet."

Dez stared back at her and raised his hands, making shooing motions. "Go."

"My cars gone in for repairs."

Dez dropped his hands and asked, "Who did you come with today?"

Tugging on a lock of her hair, Ally pursed her lips and muttered out, "Nat."

"Oh," Dez said, shooting her a toothy grin. "Something going on there?"

Ally felt her face heat up. "No! He's just really nice and I figured he wouldn't mind driving me to work."

"Uh huh, okay. And yet there are s _o_ many other people that you could have called."

"Shut up," Ally said, rolling her eyes at her boss's teasing.

Dez chuckled. "Well you can't ask him to take you home, he's busy today. Although..." He trailed off, giving her a pointed stare.

"What?"

"I doubt Austin has started packing either."

Realising what he is suggesting, Ally shook her head. "No, no way in hell am I asking that ass for a ride home."

 _Especially not after that entire situation a few days ago,_ She internally said, referring to the day he had asked her a single worded question.

" _Why?"_

* * *

"Levi, you're droolin' on my boots, bud."

From his position crouched on the ground next to Jaws' enclosure, Austin glanced next to him at his canine companion who's tongue was hanging out of his mouth, the California heat causing him to pant and allow any access saliva to drop from his pink tongue.

Seeming to realise what he is doing, Levi glanced down at Austin's heavy black boots where a drop of his slobber had landed. He huffed and backed up, causing Austin to chuckle.

The large black dog turned away from Austin, scanning the everglade looking area when he caught a scent. He slightly lifted his head, sniffing at the air. Once he realised what or rather; _who_ the scent belonged to, he began wagging his tail.

Just as he was about to dash away, he turned his gaze to Austin and cocked his head to the side. Deciding that he would like Austin to come along, he began to nudge the blonds arm.

Normally, Austin would right away see to whatever it was that Levi was hounding him about since nine times out of ten, it was something important.

(Levi is an incredibly smart animal, mind you. So are other animals. Some; smarter than the human dingbats in this world.)

However, Austin didn't completely give his attention to Levi since he was currently getting something equally important sorted out.

Earlier on, he had been doing his usual rounds; checking up on the gators when he noticed Jaws at the very end of his large enclosure. Apart from a few bushes and other vegetation, there wasn't really much there so it had peaked the blonds interest of why the large alligator was there.

Upon further inspection, Austin discovered an opening in the fence of the enclosure well hidden by the lush vegetation.

This is where Jaws had been making his escapes from.

Austin got to work quickly, not bothering to call in for any help since it was just an easy patch job and he had the necessary materials on hand.

He was almost done but it didn't seem like Levi wanted to wait and he again nudged Austin's arm. Thinking that his buddy just wanted some attention, Austin shrugged him off, turning back to the drill in his hand. "Just a minute, bud. I'm almost done, I know you're bored."

Levi huffed and sat back on his haunches, watching his blond companion.

A minute passed and he nudged Austin again, this time letting out a little whine.

Austin rolled his eyes and swung his head towards Levi who barked and spun in a circle, looking at him excitedly. Having finished patching up the opening, Austin returned whatever tools he had been using back in place before heading back to where he left the black German Shepherd; only to find him not there anymore.

His brown brows furrowed and he gave a short whistle. "Levi?" He called out and was immediately answered back with a bark coming from the direction of the dirt path.

"What is up with that dog?" He asked no one in particular while heading towards the dirt path.

Exiting the tree line, he stepped onto the dirt path and glanced ahead, letting out a groan when he saw why Levi had been all excited.

"Great," He muttered.

Austin watched as Levi bounded up to Ally, his tongue flopping up and down as he ran, making the brunette laugh in happiness before crouching down to greet him as he came to a stop in front of her, tail swishing from left to right in glee.

Ally cooed at the large dog as if he was a puppy, rubbing him behind the ears and running her fingers through the silky soft fur on his neck. "Hi, handsome, there's a good boy," She affectionately spoke to him as she always did.

Enjoying the treatment coming from the brunette whom he has always been fond of, Levi leaned into her touch, nuzzling against her hand.

Ally smiled at the loving dog and continued to pet him, almost not realising that the person who she came out looking for was now just a few feet in front of her, making his way towards her.

She looked up and took in his appearance. As always, his shirt clung to his broad shoulders, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Said shirt was paired with black jeans along with his usual heavy black boots. She locked gazes with him, her hazel orbs immediately being drawn to the scar going down his eye, his platinum hair covering the top half of it, like always.

Ally got up, hands moving to dust off her lab coat that wasn't there since she had taken it off upon exiting the lab. Immediately after getting up she noticed him do a once over of her as he came closer.

His eyes raked up and down her body as if they had a mind of their own. Her hair hung in her usual chocolate waves, a dark blue wrap blouse adorned her upper half. The colour drew him in, reminding him of the deep blue sea and he had to tear his gaze away when he glanced at her chest area, choosing to instead take his gaze down again.

Her dark fitted jeans hugged her curves and he allowed his gaze to linger just abit on her shapely legs before flicking down to her Converse sneakers.

Squeaky clean as always.

"Austin," She greeted with not much friendliness.

Not like he was expecting any.

"Ally Marie," He returned the greeting.

"Lose something?" She asked, gesturing to the happy canine now sitting next to her.

Austin huffed. "He's a male dog; I should have known he was with you. He's practically a walking bitch detector."

Ally cocked her head and shot the blond an overly sweet smile. "That explains why he's always around you."

Austin rolled his eyes. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Ally bit her lip and turned her gaze away from him, choosing to settle her eyes on a nearby enclosure where an alligator was lumbering about at the waters edge. Let alone seeing Austin stare at her from the corner of her eye, she could _feel_ his heated gaze.

"I need a favour," She mumbled and Austin raised a brow.

Despite having heard her, Austin stepped closer and asked, "What?"

"A favour," She mumbled again, still not looking at him.

"A what? Speak up, Ally Marie."

Ally groaned and snapped her gaze towards him. "A favour! I need a damn favour!"

"Why in the hell would you come to _me_ for a favour?" Austin scoffed.

"Don't think anything of it, Moon. I was forced. Dez wants me to go home and pack for the expedition. He figured that you haven't started either so he had the oh so _brilliant_ idea of you giving me a ride on your way aswell."

"He wants me to go home?"

"Yes," Ally answered.

 _I actually haven't started packing..._ Austin thought to himself before bringing his focus back to the woman in front of him. She was looking at him, an eyebrow raised expectantly and he opened his mouth to speak when;

"Ally!"

The three turned at the voice belonging to Nat who was making his way towards them, a smile on his face directed at the brunette.

"Oh, Nat, hi," Ally greeted back, her face lighting up.

Austin internally rolled his eyes.

"You checking up on Maggie?" Nat asked after throwing Austin the usual head nod and giving Levi a pat on the head.

Ally answered back, "No, I uhh, actually need to head home. Dez insisted that I pack for the big trip, you know? Says that I should be packed even though I'm not leaving right away." She ended her sentence about the red-head with a good natured eye roll.

"Sounds like Dez," Nat chuckled.

Austin watched the two intently, taking note of the way Ally twirled her hair and the way in which Nat looked at her.

He internally rolled his eyes again.

"He practically pushed me out the door, insisting that I should get some rest too."

Nat nodded his head and reached up to run a hand through his dark hair. "I agree, you've been working too hard. Take a load off. You deserve it."

Ally laughed. "Thanks, Nat."

Another internal eye roll from Austin.

Nat smiled too before his face somehow managed to form a bigger smile. "You want me to take you home?" He offered kindly, eagerness clear in his cheery voice.

Ally raised her eyebrows and smiled at the offer; about to answer when Austin cut her off.

"It's alright, man, no need for that. I'm giving her a ride."

Nat looked mildly taken aback by Austin's words for he was aware of the relationship(or whatever you call it) that the blond and brunette shared. "You sure? It really wouldn't be any trouble."

"I got it," Austin insisted. "I'm heading home too anyway."

Nat nodded his head. "Okay then. Cool." His features dulled considerably and Austin immediately felt bad.

"I wouldn't want you to get into any trouble with Dez. He's laid back and all but you know he likes gettin' work done," Austin said, hoping that his friend won't be annoyed with him for whatever reason.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," Nat agreed and held his hand out to Austin, bumping his fist against his with a smile. "Good lookin' out, bro."

"Anytime," Austin grinned and manoeuvred himself around the two, heading up the dirt path and patting his jean clad thighs twice in a signal for Levi to follow him. "Ready when you are," He said to Ally when he brushed past her.

* * *

He waited for around five minutes, leaning against his orange Jeep Wrangler when he saw Ally heading his way; her face tinged with a light pink blush and her bottom lip wedged between her teeth.

Austin's scar burned lightly.

 _I don't even wanna know..._ He thought silently.

"Alright, I'm ready," Ally said, not looking him in the eye.

"Hop in," Austin grunted.

She did so while he opened the back door for Levi who jumped in happily, settling himself on the comfy leather. Austin gave him a quick rub behind the ears before shutting the door and taking his place in the driver's seat.

He inserted the key into the ignition and turned; the engine rumbling to life. Just as he was about to move though, a thought struck him and he furrowed his eyebrows, turning to look at Ally.

"Why do you need a ride? Where's your car?"

"Took you long enough to ask," Ally said smartly and Austin glared at her.

"Well pardon me for not letting it register. I was a little taken aback that you wanted something from me and it wasn't to annoy the hell outta my soul," He shot back.

"Hmm, touché."

Austin punched in the code and drove out of the large research facility, making sure that the gate slid shut behind him before pulling onto the road.

"Well then? What's the deal?" He asked, eyes on the road.

Feeling as if she had said this a hundred times already, (in reality it was only two times; to Nat and Dez) Ally sighed and rolled her eyes. "My car is gone in for repairs."

Austin shook his head. "Poor car. You love inflictin' damage, don't you?" He asked coldly, causing Ally to narrow her eyes at him.

"What the hell are you getting at?" She hissed at him and Levi whined, sensing the tension surrounding the two people.

Austin's jaw clenched and he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "You very well know what I'm gettin' at, Ally Marie but let's not hound on it. I wouldn't wanna wreck my Jeep."

Ally scoffed and shook her head. " _You're_ suggesting that we not hound on it. _You_ are the one that fucking started it," She spat.

"Hey now," Austin reprimanded. "Don't go usin' that language around my boy." He removed his hand from the gearshift and reached back to ruffle up the fur on Levi's head.

Ally bit her tongue, choosing not to say anything else but at the same time; wanting to fling the Jeep door open, throw herself out and walk back to the research facility where she would slap the hell out of Dez for suggesting that she get a ride with Austin Fucking Moon.

* * *

 **Annnnnd that's it for this chapter.. Again, I apologize if it wasn't too grand.. Definitely gonna make it up to ya'll in the next one.**

 **Blood Moon will be updated next. Keep an eye out but just... Don't hold your breath. Exams have begun and it's gonna be: STUDY STUDY STUDY, ya know?**

 **But I promise; I'll try to get an update out, okay?**

 **Even though it was a tad suckish, do comment on this chapter, ya'll know I absolutely love hearing from you all.**

 **BTW, what do you guys think of Levi? Ya'll like him? Should I have him tag along on the expedition? Let me know.**

 **Okay, so that's it.**

 **Love you guys.**

 **PEACE.**


	7. Be Careful

**Hi guys. I know that I was supposed to update earlier but something came up and I got held back… I'll tell ya'll more about it in my Blood Moon A/N…**

 **Anyway, hope you wonderful pack buddies enjoy this. We're getting closer to the island :D**

* * *

 **Recap: R.D.J**

 **-Ally stresses over her research at GenRex.**

 **This causes Dez to force her home in order to relax as well as pack for the expedition.**

 **-Since her car is gone in for repairs and Nat is far too busy to leave work, Ally is asked by Dez to hitch a ride with Austin since he should begin packing as well.**

 **The car ride goes well… Sort of…**

 _Austin shook his head. "Poor car. You love inflictin' damage, don't you?" He asked coldly, causing Ally to narrow her eyes at him._

 _"What the hell are you getting at?" She hissed at him and Levi whined, sensing the tension surrounding the two people._

 _Austin's jaw clenched and he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "You very well know what I'm gettin' at, Ally Marie but let's not hound on it. I wouldn't wanna wreck my Jeep."_

 _Ally scoffed and shook her head. "_ _You're_ _suggesting that we not hound on it._ _You_ _are the one that fucking started it," She spat._

 _"Hey now," Austin reprimanded. "Don't go usin' that language around my boy." He removed his hand from the gearshift and reached back to ruffle up the fur on Levi's head._

 _Ally bit her tongue, choosing not to say anything else but at the same time; wanting to fling the Jeep door open, throw herself out and walk back to the research facility where she would slap the hell out of Dez for suggesting that she get a ride with Austin Fucking Moon._

* * *

The two rode in silence after that. Ally kept her gaze outside the window as she watched everything pass by in a blur while Austin focused on the road, his hand resting lightly on the gearshift.

Levi kept looking between the two, as if he was waiting for one of them to say something. He wasn't used to this.

Usually, if anyone joined him and Austin in the Jeep, there would be steady conversations flowing comfortably and if there was little or no conversation at all; there would at least be a comfortable silence.

This was silence, but not the comfortable kind.

Levi sensed the tension surrounding the two and his finely tuned ears picked up the restless breaths that were exhaled from Austin and Ally every few minutes.

He whined and shifted forward, sticking his furry head between the two seats.

Ally turned and smiled at the friendly canine.

"Hi there," She cooed.

From his peripheral, Austin saw Levi lean into the brunette's touch, his tail thumping against the leather seats in happiness at the affection being given to him.

Austin tried to ignore the warm feeling in his chest at the way Ally always interacted with Levi. His canine companion has always been extremely fond of her, and her of him.

The fact that she's always so sweet with him gave Austin mixed feelings. On one hand; he wanted to roll his eyes at their interactions and call Levi a traitor, but on the other; he just wanted to smile and embrace that warmth in his chest.

He's never embraced that feeling though. The other fact that he absolutely despised her kept him from doing just that.

"What was with the rosy cheeks?" He asked after Levi had opted to rest back onto his haunches on the seat.

His voice caught her off guard and she looked at him, an eyebrow arched. "Excuse me?"

He glanced at her and looked back at the road. "After your little talk with Nat."

At this, her cheeks turned slightly pink again but she masked it with a scowl. "Why is it any of your business?"

Austin clenched his jaw and shrugged. "Just makin' conversation. No need to be bitchy."

Ally rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

She didn't answer his question and he didn't ask again. Rather; he sighed and lightly rubbed at his scar after feeling it burn.

"Alright. Get out," He said upon pulling up next to her driveway.

"My pleasure," She muttered and opened the door. Before shutting it, she reached back in to pat Levi on the head.

"Let him up front," Austin said without looking at her.

Ally opened the back door, allowing the black dog to hop out and in to the passenger seat next to Austin.

There were no goodbyes exchanged between the two. Ally scratched Levi behind the ears one more time before shutting the door and turning to her house without a second glance.

Austin didn't look at her either but waited until he heard her enter the house and lock the door behind her before driving off.

* * *

"Dez, I'm only headin' out for a few hours. What's with all of this?" Austin asked after taking in the sight of over ten waterproof bags containing supplies as well as three large five litre water containers.

"Safety first!" The red-head said firmly with raised finger. "If anything happens, you'll be well prepared!"

Austin shook his head but didn't argue, knowing that his boss was one hundred percent correct.

He was heading out today and if everything goes as planned; he would be bringing back a saltwater gator.

After handing one of the crew members one more backpack filled with supplies, Dez nodded his head approvingly and looked at Austin.

"Alright, that's the last of it. Did you forget anything?"

"Forget anything," Austin scoffed. "I got an entire dang survival store in that boat."

The last crew member that would be heading out to sea with Austin on the boat chuckled as he watched Dez scan the area multiple times, making sure that they did in fact have everything that they needed.

"No worries, Mr Wade. We'll take good care of him."

"With the animals you're going to encounter and the state in which they're in, _he's_ gonna be taking care of you," Dez said, causing the man to laugh and nod his head.

"I don't doubt that. I'm not the biggest fan of alligators."

"Not many people are," Austin said before remembering something. "I gotta run by Nat real quick."

"Alright, don't be long. I want you back as soon as possible. You gotta prepare for the expedition and rest up."

"Yeah, yeah," Austin grunted and headed for the dirt path.

* * *

"So just make sure that she comes to you when she needs to get into the enclosure."

"You couldn't tell her this yourself?" Nat asked the blond with his eyebrows raised.

Austin had come to tell Nat that Ally would be coming out to inject one of the newer gators with the serum and since the gator seemed more at ease with Nat than any of the other handlers; Austin instructed that he be the one to help Ally with the process.

"I haven't seen her and I'm heading out in a few. Is it a problem?"

Austin added in the question as an afterthought, knowing full well that his friend had _no_ problem whatsoever with delivering a message to the brunette woman.

Just as suspected, Nat's eyes widened briefly and his face lit up in a blush. "No, no! No problem. I just figured that you would have seen her in the lab or something."

"She's on the upper level today, working with Jenna, I think."

Nat nodded his head. "Alright then. I'll go in with her."

"Cool. I'm gonna head back," Austin stated and brought a hand to his mouth, letting out a sharp whistle.

Levi came bounding through the trees.

"You're taking him with?" Nat asked.

"Course," Austin answered. "He's gonna help out. Hey, boy?"

Levi barked out his agreement and wagged his tail.

Nat smiled. "Of course, he will."

Austin bumped his fist against Nat's and was about to turn away when he was stopped.

"Hey, Austin?"

Austin turned around, brows raised in question.

Nat ran a hand through his dark hair cleared his throat. "I know you said that I gotta help her with the new gator when she comes out here but is there any chance that you could, uhh, could you… before you head out-"

"Out with it, man," Austin urged.

"Could you go up top to the lab and tell her to come and see me? Before you leave?"

Austin stared blankly at Nat. "What, right now, you mean?"

Nat ran a hand through his hair again. "Uh, y-yeah. I know she's probably busy and all but just… uh… could you? I've been meaning to ask her something."

Austin's scar began to sting.

"Sure."

"Yeah?" Nat asked, trying to hide his glee but not doing a very good job. "Even if she has to bring the serum right now it'd be cool."

"Sure," Austin said again and turned away, heading over to his Harley Davidson with Levi following him.

"Thanks!" Nat called after he revved the bike to life. He kicked off and Levi took off alongside him.

"Sure," Austin said, despite the fact that Nat hadn't heard him.

Before heading into the facility, Austin saw some of the crew members heading out and informed them that he would be joining them soon at the harbour. They gave him the thumbs up and he left Levi by his Jeep, patting him on the head and telling him that he'd be right back.

"Are you all set? The crew left already," Dez said to him upon seeing him enter the lab.

"Yeah, I saw them. Just needed to drop off a little message."

"To who?" Dez asked.

As far as he knew, (as well as everyone else knew) Austin didn't speak to anyone in the lab in a hurry except for him and _sometimes_ Ally. (Though he isn't sure if half of their interactions could be classified as talking. Maybe arguing.)

"Dawson," Austin answered.

 _So more arguing before he leaves. How nice…_ Dez thought internally before nodding once.

"Okay. Go on."

Austin made his way to the elevator and in a few moments, the doors slid open, the upper level lab brightness greeting him like the damn sun itself.

He squinted at the harsh lights, waiting until his eyes adjusted before he moved forward and out of the elevator. People bustled around in their lab coats and he sifted through them in his usual attire of jeans, heavy black boots and a shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

His hazel orbs went in search for the brunette, scanning around the large room, looking for those familiar chocolate waves.

"Austin?"

He swung his head to the left at the mention of his name and came face to face with a woman, just like every other person in the room excluding himself, wearing a lab coat. Her hair was light brown and her bangs fell in front of her eyes, though they didn't cover them.

"Uh, yeah," Austin answered, trying to put a name to the pretty face in front of him though he came up blank. "I'm sorry, but uhh, I don't think I've met you…"

"Jenna," She answered and shyly stuck her hand out in front of her, one that wasn't holding on to a few notes that she had been asked to retrieve.

Austin stared at her hand for a fraction of a second before taking it into his own, giving it a friendly shake.

"Austin, seems you already know that though."

Jenna blushed at his strong grip and allowed her hand to take a hold of a strand of her hair once he pulled away.

"Yeah, I uhh, I've heard a lot about you," Jenna said, a shy smile adorning her features.

"Oh?" Austin's brows raised.

Jenna nodded. "You're pretty much the talk of the lab here. Most of the time. I've heard about your work with the alligators, it's amazing."

Austin watched as her blush intensified while giving way to a dreamy smile.

"Well, uhm, thank you. I love what I do. They're amazing animals," Austin stated with a light smile of his own.

"Oh they really ar-"

"Jenna?"

Jenna's words were cut off when the woman who Austin had come in search for kemanoeuvred her way around a circular counter adorned with various beakers and tubes, making her way towards the two.

Ally and Jenna had been working through the possible reasons as to why crocodiles are immune to the virus when Ally asked Jenna to get a few notes from a fellow employee while she heated up a burner for a small experiment.

Jenna had taken a little longer with the notes than expected so Ally went in search for her and upon realizing who she was with, she bit back a groan and made her way towards the two.

"Ally Marie," Austin drawled once the brunette was next to him and Jenna.

"Austin," Ally muttered without making eye contact with him. Rather; she kept her gaze on Jenna who, like everyone always did, immediately sensed the tension between the two.

"Are those the notes?" Ally asked, gesturing to the papers in Jenna's hand.

"Yeah," She answered and went on to explain, "I couldn't find Josh so I got a little hung up."

Ally was about to suggest that they get back to the experiment but Jenna twirled a strand of her hair and spoke before she could.

"I would have got to you sooner but I, uhh, I ran into Austin."

Ally took note of the pink adorning Jenna's cheeks and raised her eyebrows.

"Well, I'm sorry that you had to go through that. He's a lot to digest. Shall we get back to work?"

Austin scoffed at Ally's words and ignoring her last question about getting back to work, Jenna practically gushed out, "Sorry? Oh no, Austin is the perfect gentleman. I'm glad I ran into him."

Austin slyly smirked at Ally before regarding Jenna with a gentle smile. "I'm glad that you did too."

Ally watched as the two gazed at each other and willed herself not to give into the urge to cuss somebody out.

"That's nice," She said through clenched teeth. "We should go, Jenna."

Breaking her stare from the handsome blond, Jenna turned to Ally and nodded.

"Oh yes, of course. I'll see you around, Austin?" She phrased her last words in the form of a question, her lips formed into a small and hopeful smile.

"Definitely," He simply said and warmly smiled at her.

Jenna gave him a shy wave and walked away. Ally huffed and made a move to follow Jenna when Austin spoke.

"Nat wants to see you."

Ally turned around to see him looking everywhere but at her.

"Now?"

He stared at a few other employees for a few moments before bringing his gaze to land on her.

"Yeah, or whenever you have time. He just said he wants you to come down," Austin answered with a shrug.

"Well, I'm a little busy right now-"

"Whatever. Whenever you have the time then," Austin cut her off and began walking to the elevator a few meters away.

Ally clenched her jaw at him and called out, "Could you at least _tell_ him that I'll see him later?"

"No. I'm not going back to the enclosures."

Ally frowned. "Why not?"

Austin stopped in his tracks and tipped his head back, exhaling heavily. He turned and made his way back to her.

Deciding to throw her words back at her, Austin tilted his head down and asked, "Why is it any of your business?"

Given her short stature, Ally had to crane her neck up to lock gazes with him as he towered over her. The earthy odour emanating from him briefly distracted her and she conjured up an image of him in his usual element, trekking through the outdoors, his heavy black boots leaving imprints in the mud.

She allowed herself a few moments to drag her eyes up and down his reddish scar, all the while fighting to keep her hands at her sides so that she wouldn't give into the temptation of brushing back those strands that always covered the top half of it in order to see it in its full length.

She came back to her senses when he arched a brow.

Narrowing her eyes at him, she stepped back. "Forget it, I'll see Nat later anyway."

She spun on her heel, making sure that her hair slapped him in the face. She grinned when she heard him grunt in annoyance.

Austin flexed the muscles in his jaw as he watched her go. Not knowing what came over him, he called out, "Hey!"

A few other lab goers turned but looked away once they realized the call wasn't for them. Austin's gaze was set only on the brunette woman.

She turned to him and watched as he exhaled before making his way towards her. Raising her brows in question, she waited for him to speak.

Austin licked his lips and stuck his hands into his pockets. "I'm heading out today."

Ally was confused at first but then it clicked in her mind that he would hopefully be bringing back a saltwater gator. A look of realisation passed her face and she nodded.

"That's-that's good. It'll really help the research to have one of those gators here," She said stiffly.

Austin stared at her for a good few seconds before softly saying, "Yeah."

Ally nodded again and Austin took a few steps back before spinning around towards the elevator.

She watched him go before something else clicked in her mind and then it was _her_ stopping _him_.

He watched as she walked towards him, her bottom lip between her teeth.

"I heard that the sea is pretty rough today."

"Uh huh," Austin said. "I heard that too."

Her lip still between her teeth, Ally looked everywhere but at him when she said, "You should be careful."

Austin's brows raised at her words and upon seeing his expression when she looked at him, Ally quickly backtracked.

"All of you, I mean. The crew and everyone. Be careful."

Again, the two stared at each other without saying a word.

Austin locked himself in her intense gaze, taking note of the usual heat and anger behind it. Despite being used to that gaze reserved for him, even if it was just a tiny glimmer, he could see the sincerity mixed in.

He cleared his throat and rocked on his heels. "I wil-, I mean, we will."

Ally nodded stiffly and broke their gaze, turning around from him for what felt like the hundredth time, to get back to her work.

Austin watched her go before shaking his head and getting into the elevator.

* * *

"So how exactly are we doing this?"

The man that had spoken to Austin and Dez earlier (his name is Robby) asked as he was steering the sizeable boat out of the harbour.

"We locate the gators and I catch one of them," Austin answered simply.

Robby pursed his lips and glanced at Austin. "But… these aren't like… _ordinary_ alligators, right? Aren't they super dangerous or something?"

Austin snorted into the water bottle that he brought to his lips. Twisting the cap back on, he dryly asked, "And _ordinary_ gators aren't _super_ dangerous?

Robby at least had the sense to realize the stupidity behind his question and flashed Austin a brief sheepish smile.

"Sorry, man. I'm just really not a fan of these things."

The blond handler walked up behind the crew captain and slapped him on the back comfortingly. "Like I said; not many people are. They aren't really big on us either."

"Well at least we run from them. They usually choose fight over flight, right?"

Austin nodded. "Depends on the situation. Sometimes we can't run from them though."

Robby looked at him questioningly and Austin grinned.

"Usually if you encounter one; you're in the water. And you can't _run_ in water, can you?"

His statement had the desired effect; Robby's eyes widened and he shivered. "Not funny."

Austin laughed and slapped him on the back again.

"Relax. All you gotta do is get me to the middle rocks at sea and steer clear while I do my thing. Alright?"

"Sounds good," Robby said.

Austin got out of the little room and out onto the upper level of the boat where he scanned the vast ocean in front of him.

Just as Ally had mentioned, the sea was rough, and the boat rocked as it sailed over the tumbling waves. Below Austin on the lower deck, Levi struggled to gain good footing and his claws made scratching noises on the wooden flooring as he swayed back and forth with the motion of the boat.

He gave out a good few growls of annoyance, causing Austin to chuckle.

"Haven't gotten your sea legs yet, bud."

Levi looked up at him and gave a sharp bark, as if saying, 'Shut up.'

Austin chuckled again and allowed his gaze to drift back to the open water in front of him. They were out pretty far now and he could see the formations of large sea rocks. Some of them weren't too high and were only able to be seen for a few seconds before the water overlapped it again with crashing waves.

"I don't see any gators!" Austin heard a member of the crew call from behind him.

Without turning around, he shouted over the rumbling sounds of the rough sea. "They're further out!"

The crew and Austin watched carefully, making sure that they wouldn't crash into any stacks of rocks as they went further out.

In the back of his mind, Austin knew that this was dangerous but he needed to do this for further research.

They were in the clear for a while before the smaller stacks gave way to much larger ones. These rocks that were further out, some looked like little islands with vegetation here and there.

If it wasn't for Austin having extremely trained eyes towards everything around him, they would have probably not seen the alligators who were resting on the various stacks of hard sedimentary rocks.

The gators were as dark as the rocks, camouflaging them quite impressively.

Austin got down from the upper deck and stumbled when the boat rocked over a particularly harsh wave. He righted himself and got to the edge of the boat, pointing out the gators to a crew member who alerted the captain.

He was about to head inside to the captain himself to word out his plan of action when Levi gave out three loud barks, grabbing his attention.

Austin swung his head around to see Levi staring into the deep, black water over the side of the boat, his tail swishing anxiously.

Austin walked towards him and looked overboard but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

He looked at Levi and rubbed the back of his neck, ruffling up the fur. "Must've just been a fish, buddy."

He was so focused on getting a saltwater gator that he didn't acknowledge the fact that Levi never alerted him unless it was something urgent and serious. Once he moved away from his canine companion, Austin missed the terrifyingly large serpent like shape that swiftly swam past the side of the boat…

* * *

 **Dun dun dunnnn!**

 **Leave me your thoughts!**

 **OMG fucking hell people! Ross is gonna play Jeffrey Dahmer! That man is bloody sick and twisted and fucking horrible but I'm legit so bloody stocked to see Ross take on a role like that! Anyone else?**

 **Alright, I'll be back as soon as I can my beautiful pack buddies :)**

 **Love you guys!**

 **PEACE.**


	8. Worried?

**Hi Pack Buddies. I missed you guys… Hope ya'll doing well.**

 **So, okay, here's the deal. Finals have begun. My time as a senior school student is limited. It is slowly coming to an end. But… That does not mean that my stories are coming to an end too, alright?**

 **Just remember that.**

 **-TheOceanStar: I'm glad you like Levi! Don't know how you're gonna like this chapter though 0_0….. Ah, you noticed Jenna too. Don't worry, she isn't in this chapter but you're gonna be seeing a lot of her…. :P**

 **-DontStopBelievin: Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong :P Who can tell anyway? His scar burns for everything XD**

 **-ClearSkiesL: Ahhhh glad you're enjoying it! Sorry this update took a while but here it is! :)**

 **-GiovannaIsAmaze: Here's that update. Hope you're amazed with this one too :P**

 **-AfricanKing: Ohhhh there's tension, alright.. :D All questions will be answered in due time, my friend.**

 **-ILoveBubbles: Nope, not just you. I always think it XD**

 **My reviewers under 'Guest', please do leave a name so that I can thank you properly :)**

 **(To the guest asking about Ross's role in 'My Friend Dahmer', he plays Jeffery as a young guy in school… Before he went all psycho 0_0 It's gonna be rad, I just know it)**

 **Hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

 **Recap: R.D-J**

 **-Austin heads out to sea, hoping to bring back a saltwater gator for further research.**

 _ **Despite the rough sea, things seem to be going along smoothly. That is; until**_ **Levi notices something that Austin and the crew miss…**

 _Austin swung his head around to see Levi staring into the deep, black water over the side of the boat, his tail swishing anxiously._

 _Austin walked towards him and looked overboard but saw nothing out of the ordinary._

 _He looked at Levi and rubbed the back of his neck, ruffling up the fur. "Must've just been a fish, buddy."_

 _He was so focused on getting a saltwater gator that he didn't acknowledge the fact that Levi never alerted him unless it was something urgent and serious. Once he moved away from his canine companion, Austin missed the terrifyingly large serpent like shape that swiftly swam past the side of the boat…_

* * *

"How'd you get that scar?"

Austin's answer to the crew member's question was automatic.

"By living."

He had been asked that question too many times to count, and his answer was always the same. Just those two words, no further explanation, nothing. His impassive face never failed to alert those who asked the question that he does not wish to elaborate further.

He has yet to come across a person that pushes for further information.

The crew member (Nox) frowned at the answer but like all others, he caught on to the blond's unwillingness to elaborate and just nodded.

He and Austin were prepping to bring an alligator on board. Nox watched as Austin pocketed a roll of duct tape, not at all understanding how a person could _willingly_ get into the sea with crazed gators.

The boat was as close to the rocks as it could be now, and it was time for Austin to head further by means of a bay boat.

"Alright," Austin said when he was ready. "Let's do this."

"Hey, you sure you don't want someone to come with you?" Nox asked.

Austin grinned and turned to him. "You offering?"

Nox held up his hands and shook his head. "Ohhhhh, I'm no expert with gators. More of a tuna guy, but I could help. I could, uhh, hand you that duct tape when you need it or something."

Austin chuckled and shook his head. "Thanks but no thanks, man. I can handle it."

Nox shrugged. "If you say so."

Despite the sea roughness, four crew members managed to successfully get the bay boat into the water, keeping it connected to the main boat. One of them gave Austin a thumbs up, signalling that he was good to go.

Austin made his way towards them and was about to jump overboard and into the bay boat. However, he was stopped when Levi again, gave three sharp barks, bounding (more like stumbling. Poor thing still doesn't have his sea legs) across the boat to his two-legged companion.

"I'd let you come with, bud. But there ain't enough room, and I don't want you sittin' on a gators back," Austin said lightly and ruffled the fur on Levi's head.

Levi whined and took the hem of Austin's shirt between his teeth, tugging backwards.

"Come on now, Levi," Austin reprimanded. "Stop it," He commanded sternly.

Levi persisted and kept a hold of Austin's shirt, whining through his teeth.

"I'll get him," One of the crew members said and made a move to grab Levi by the collar. The German Shepherd didn't take too kindly to this and rounded on the man, snapping at his hands that were pulled away just in time.

With Levi's grip now gone, Austin took his chance and got onto the bay boat, but very hesitantly.

He frowned up at his dog. It wasn't like Levi to act in that way. If he didn't like what was occurring, he'd give a person a warning bark or a mock lunge. This time, there was no warning. He would have bitten the guy if he didn't get his hand away in time.

He steered away from the main boat, all the while watching as Levi fussed about as Nox tried to refrain him from jumping overboard.

"Easy, Levi!" Austin shouted as he got further away from the boat and closer to the rock stacks.

The bay boat moved and rocked over many harsh waves, but all it did was jostle Austin in the slightest way possible. He kept his feet planted firmly on the deck, focusing on the task at hand and making sure that he didn't crash into any rocks as he moved closer to two gators on a nearby stack.

He heard Levi bark in the distance but taking his eyes away from the gators now wouldn't be an option. They could choose to retreat into the water at any time and he couldn't have that.

The wind was picking up now and ocean spray was blown onto his face but still, Austin locked his gaze on one of the two gators, immediately honing in on its deep, dark eyes that stared right back at him.

"Yeah, I'm lookin' at you, buddy," He murmured.

He was close as could be now without having damage being done to the boat. He moved to the edge, leaning over, keeping his gaze locked on the alligator of his choosing.

The gator opened up its jaws, displaying that all too familiar mouth of deadly weapons.

"I'd be pissed if someone disturbed my downtime too," Austin said over the roar of the ocean. "But we need to see what's so special about you. So…"

Austin brought his hands down hard on the boats edge, resulting in a _bang!_

His plan had the desired reaction. The other gator snapped its jaws at him before retreating into the water while the other hissed and lunged forward towards the boat.

 _Gotcha,_ Austin thought as he too, lunged as far as he could, stretching his arms out and slamming the gators jaws closed as it lost footing and slipped off the rock.

Still holding onto the five foot gator by its jaws, Austin grunted and pulled.

The gator hissed as it dangled on the side of the boat, flicking its heavy tail from side to side and attempting to get into the water.

"Fuck," Austin hissed with the effort and gave a large heave, bringing the alligator on board with him.

"That was fun," Austin muttered upon letting go off its jaws. The gator swung around and jumped at him, jaws open. Like a few minutes ago, Austin used both hands to snap them shut again. Not having any room to work the gator and tire him out, this would have to do.

He moved around and planted himself on the reptiles back and using one hand to hold the deadly jaws shut, he used the other to retrieve the roll of duct tape from his pocket.

Circling the tape around the jaws and then covering the gators eyes with a towel, Austin made a move to steer back to the main boat.

Just as he turned around to signal the main boat that he was successful, something rammed hard into the side of the boat, causing him to topple over.

"Whoa! What the-" _BANG!_ Another hit to the boat.

Austin heaved himself up from floor, making sure not to hurt the hissing gator next to him. The bay boat had thankfully righted itself fairly quickly and Austin looked overboard, seeing nothing but black water with frothing waves lapping at the sides of the boat.

Assuming that it was another alligator, Austin mumbled, "Looks like your friends aren't too happy with me for taking you."

He frowned. "Really _big_ friend."

The hit to the boat caused it to dangerously tip to its side. Alligators are extremely strong but _that_ strong? Has to be an incredibly large gator.

 _Or a shark, maybe?_ Austin thought.

Before he could further his thoughts, Austin swung around to the sound of yet another bang, this time accompanied with yells and shouts of panic.

Along with the frantic barking of Levi.

The main boat was bobbing from side to side, the harsh waves doing nothing to help the situation. Austin watched as the crew ran about, shouting profanities, attempting to achieve order and safety while others looked overboard.

The boat took another shaking hit, bringing the entire crew to their knees.

Austin cursed frantically to himself before heading to steer the bay boat himself. Just as he gunned the engine, the main boat was hit again and this time, whatever was causing havoc decided to show itself.

Austin's eyes widened and his breath hitched

"What the hell…"

A large, monstrous head surfaced from the raging waves for no more than three seconds before submerging, leaving Austin frozen solid.

From the short amount of time that it had decided to surface, Austin was able to take in the creatures dark eyes that were focused on the main boat as well as the terrifyingly long and thick dagger like teeth that lined its parted mouth.

 _Was that?…_ Austin thought, still frozen stiff on the bobbing bay boat.

A sharp bark from his four-legged companion snapped him out of his stupor, and he shook his head before stumbling to the lever of the bay boat in the cabin, pushing it down and racing towards the main boat.

He was just a few feet away when the main boat took another hit, this time with a lot more force.

Austin fisted the lever once again and pushed, only for the bay boat to let out a whirring noise, jerking on the water's surface.

"What in the hell?" Austin mumbled, pushing the lever again with the same outcome. The boat engine strained but didn't move forward.

"Goddammit!" He yelled and punched the cabin wall on his way around the deck.

Again, the main boat was hit but this time with the large creature blasting up from the rough waves. Its body was revealed halfway, large flipper like limbs whacked the side of the boat, causing it to lean dangerously to the side with the crew hanging on for dear life. They were all able to stay on-board.

Except Levi.

The black German shepherd skidded across the deck of the boat, his claws scratching at the wooden flooring, attempting to gain stable footing. A few crew members attempted to grab onto him or the leash that was clipped onto his collar in order to keep better control of him when Austin had gotten into the bay boat.

 _Attempted_.

Their attempts were futile as the boat just kept bobbing harshly from side to side, not allowing anyone to make a proper grab for him.

Austin watched in horror as Levi was flung into the dark and relentless water that was currently being prowled by an apex predator.

"NO!" He yelled in agony.

Levi wasted no time and immediately after surfacing, began swimming back to the boat, his black fur now seeming even darker and practically camouflaging him against the equally dark water.

"Come on, bud!" Austin exclaimed. "That's my boy, keep going!"

Unfortunately, Levi wasn't able to make it far. He jerked backwards, coming to a stop with a whine. Austin was baffled before realizing that his leash must have gotten lodged on a sea rock under the rushing waves.

Without a second thought, Austin rushed to the bow of the bay boat, thrusting himself upwards and diving into the ocean.

With his usually sharp eyesight now a total blur under water, Austin hastily swam back to the surface after getting a blurry glimpse of the frightening sea monster a few metres away from him.

The thing was 25 feet at least…

Coming up to the surface, he quickly honed in on his canine companion before making a mad dash for him.

Still trying to break free from his restraints, Levi saw him (as well as something else…) coming and began barking frantically.

Despite the roar of the relentless ocean, Austin took notice in Levi's barking tone.

It was a tone of warning.

Twisting around, Austin just about had a heart attack. A large eerie shape was just below him under the water's surface.

"Crap. Hell. Fuck," He muttered, feeling his heart thundering in his chest like the hooves of wild stallions.

He twisted around back to Levi and felt around under the water, his hands roving the rough rocks, trying to find where the leash was lodged.

"You need to get on-board, Austin! Come on!" Austin heard Nox yell just as he was able to pull Levi's leash free.

"Alright, buddy, let's go."

The two quickly began swimming back to the main boat that had somewhat stopped its harsh bobbing.

Feeling as if he had all the oxygen in his body knocked out of him, Austin was suddenly thrust into the air by a massive force pushing up beneath him. On his way down and in a daze, he only got a glimpse of the terrifying mouth lined with large teeth that missed his torso by a hairs breadth.

He fell backwards, landing in the water with a stinging _smack_.

While under, he faintly saw a flash of red zooming past him a few feet away as well as something large heading away from him or towards him. He couldn't tell. His senses at the moment, were fucked up.

He kicked and headed for the surface.

Everything after that was a blur. He was simply acting on instinct. Swimming as fast as he could to the boat where Levi was being pulled up on-board.

He felt hands grab at him, hauling him up and then setting him on the deck. He couldn't think or even see clearly. The sharp ringing in his ears made the voices around him sound like they were in a tunnel, everything was echoing, nothing was making sense.

The last thing he recalls before he blacks out is the faint whine of Levi and the feel of him draping his form over his torso, nuzzling into him.

* * *

Furiously flipping through his notes, Dez squints his eyes and scans through every page like a crazed robot.

"Where is it? Where is it?" He mumbles under his breath.

"Watcha lookin' for?"

Dez lets out a throaty girlish shriek and spins around on his seat, clutching his chest as Ally jumps back in shock.

"Oh my _god_! Jumpy much?" The brunette remarks and shakes her head while attempting to manoeuvre around the table he was occupying to get to some beakers on a shelf.

Dez exhaled a breath. "Well, _excuse_ me! Yo-

"No, excuse _me_. You're in my way," Ally interrupted.

Dez scoffed and allowed her to pass, still clutching his chest.

"I only freaked because I assumed I was alone. You can't just sneak up on a man like that."

Ally rolled her eyes. "My sincerest apologies."

" _Hmph_. So, how's it going with Jenna? Any progress?" Dez asked, sitting back down and resuming his note scanning.

Ally blew out a puff of air, turning around with three beakers held against her chest.

"Apart from everything we've established already there isn't anything new, really. We're pretty much just going over a few theories."

Dez shrugged. "Well, that's still good. The more theories, the better. It'll give us more than one option to look to if we come out unsuccessful."

Ally bit her lip, frustrated that they weren't getting anywhere with results. (She always got results when she worked… _Not_ getting them is _getting_ to her head.)

"Yeah, well. We can't really do much about the salties unless we get an alligator back from the sea. If we learn what's enabling them to reside in saltwater; it could just get us one step closer to a cure."

"Yes, well, we might as well just work with what we hav-"

Dez was cut off when Nat suddenly came barrelling into the lab, his cheeks flushed and his chest heaving with heavy breaths.

Wide eyed, Dez got off his seat. "What in the world?"

"Nat, what's wrong?" Ally asked worriedly while walking over to the flustered man.

Having ran up the entire dirt path without a break, Nat exhaled a few more heavy breaths before standing up straight, panic still lighting up his eyes.

"We just got word via the VHF. The boat was attacked. Austin's hurt."

Ally felt ice run through her veins.

"What?!" She and Dez exclaimed in unison, both wide eyed.

Nat shook his head and ran a hand through his dark hair, mussing it up even more than it previously was.

"The boat engines were failing but they got them running and as far as I know; they're docking now. I don't know exactly what happened. I couldn't really hear much over the radio, there was too much noise. I just caught little snippets."

He ran a hand through his hair again. "All I really made out from the captain's voice was that something attacked the boat, the bay boat engine failed, Austin jumped over-board-"

"He what?!" Ally screeched, her mouth agape. "For what?!"

Nat shrugged. "I'm not sure but I'm assuming it was to get back to the main boat since the bay boat engine failed."

"What happened to him? How'd he get hurt?" Dez asked frantically.

Nat shrugged again. "Like I said; couldn't really hear much. One of the crew members said something about him taking a flying hit. Whatever that means," Nat mumbled, frowning.

"They're docking?" Ally asked, the beakers clasped tightly in her grip. (It was a miracle that they didn't shatter in her grasp.)

"That's what I heard," Nat nodded.

* * *

Upon waking up, Austin took in his surroundings and realized that he was in the backseat of a truck with Levi still sprawled across his chest. His fur was still a little damp but his body emanated warmth.

Feeling a bit stifled, Austin groaned and gently pushed on the black dog's chest, easing him off his body. Levi complied but gave a huff and nudged his nose against Austin's neck.

"I'm fine, buddy," He said and noticed that like Levi's fur, his clothes were still a bit damp.

Austin balanced on his elbows and pushed himself up into a sitting position, but not before groaning at the ache in his shoulders and upper back.

"Shit," He hissed.

"Shouldn't lie to your dog like that," Came the voice of one of the crew members driving the truck.

"What?" Austin asked.

"You said you're fine. That groan says otherwise."

In the passenger seat, Nox turned around to face Austin.

"You took a huge hit, man. That thing could have broken your ribs or something. Dude, you could have _died_!"

 _That thing… That thing… What was that thing?_

Austin shook his head. Whatever happened out at sea was slightly blurry to him right now. His head was pounding, his body was aching, his scar was burning, and he was still in shock from what he had faintly seen before everything had gone black.

"What in the hell happened?" He muttered.

"Whatever that thing was; it barrelled into you from down under. You took a pretty hard hit when you got back down. Like a backward belly-flop. Must've stung."

Austin took in Nox's information, faintly remembering his painful landing into the ocean.

"I don't remember anything after that," Austin said, rubbing a hand down his face, lingering on his scar.

"Not surprised," The crew member driving the van said. "That was a hard hit. For all we know, it could've been worse if Captain hadn't fired a flare gun into the water after you. It scared that thing away."

 _That's what that red light was,_ Austin recalled.

Just as he was about to ask if any of them had gotten a better look at the creature, something snapped in his mind.

His eyes widened.

"The gator!" His sudden outburst made Nox and the crew member he didn't know the name of to jump, startled.

"Where is it?! Don't tell me we lost it! Dang it!" He yelled in a panic.

"Oh, oh, whoa, man! Easy, cowboy!" Nox urged, looking at the frazzled man through the rear-view mirror.

"Cowboy?" Nameless crew member said with a befuddled expression directed towards Nox.

"Well, yeah!" Nox answered in a 'duh' tone. "He's from Texas. Aren't you from Texas? Yeah, he's from Texas," Nox continued, not waiting for an answer from Austin.

"So that automatically makes him a cowboy?"

"I'd say so, yeah-"

" _Where_ is the fuckin' _gator_?!" Austin bellowed from the backseat, rearing forward and ignoring the ache of his body.

For the second time, the two jumped at his voice.

"Don't worry, don't worry," Nox assured. "Trent over here was able to haul it on-board once the bay boat bobbed over to us."

"Yeah," The crew member who Austin now knew the name to said. "Was kinda difficult with the sea being so damn rough and with the thought that a sea monster was gonna bite my face off and all but I knew it was important."

Austin exhaled the breath that he had been keeping in and slumped against the seat, Levi shifting to make room for him. "That's a relief. Thanks, man. All of that would've been for nothin', otherwise."

"No problem. I got in contact with one of your handlers. Uhh, Tucker, I think. Said he'd pick him up."

"What's so special about these alligators, anyway?" Nox asked.

"Other than the fact that they live in s _alt_ water?" Trent grunted sarcastically, causing Nox to scoff.

"Shut up. So what's up with them?"

"That's what we're tryna find out," Austin whispered, lost in his thoughts again. "Did any of you actually get a good look at… whatever that was?"

 _He had to make sure that he didn't imagine what_ he _saw…_

Both crew members shook their heads.

"Well, we _saw_ it," Nox said. "Kinda," He added as an afterthought. "I've never seen anything like that. Thing was scary looking. _How_ are you not dead?"

"Quit it, idiot. Would you have rather had him die?"

Nox scoffed. "I'm just amazed. That thing looked tough."

 _That thing…_ Austin thought again. His mind was hazy but he got a pretty good look at its head when it surfaced the first time as well as the blurry image when he was underwater.

 _Also, those flipper like limbs…_

It looked familiar.

He's seen it before. Not up close (Until now) but… on various documentaries…

Documentaries about prehistoric creatures.

Nox and Trent continued to talk, only gaining Austin's attention when they mentioned getting him to a hospital.

He snapped his head up. "Hospital? No, no, get me to GenRex."

"Have you not been listening?" Nox asked. "You. Could. Have. _Died_!"

"Yeah, I heard you but _did_ I _die_? No, so get me to the damn research facility _now_."

Nox raised his brows and Trent tried, "Man, all due respect, you still could have suffered some damage. We really should-"

"I'm fine," Austin snapped. "GenRex. _Now_ ," He insisted, finality coating his voice.

* * *

"Thanks again. I'll see you guys around," Austin said as he got out of the van.

"You sure you don't wanna check yourself out, man?" Trent asked.

"Yeah, bro. You could have-"

"I did not die, Nox. I'm fine," Austin sighed, shaking his head.

"If you're sure, alright," Nox said, rolling up his window.

Austin gave them a salute and they drove off.

Levi, from his position next to Austin, peered up at him and cocked an ear to the side. Austin crouched down and brought a hand up, running his fingers through the still damp fur on his neck.

"I'm sorry, buddy."

Levi nuzzled into Austin's touch and drooped his tongue out.

"You were tryna warn me," Austin murmured. "I didn't listen. Not gonna be makin' that mistake again."

Levi huffed and wagged his tail and Austin smiled, standing up to his normal height.

"Alright, you run along now. I'll be out in a while."

With that, Austin made his way into the facility and into the elevator, heading up to the labs.

When he entered the well-known laboratory, he was immediately subjected to the wide eyed stares of Dez and Nat before the red-head rushed to him, gripping him by the shoulders and making him groan from the pain.

"Austin! Are you fine? Nat said the boat was attacked! The captain said you're hurt!"

"I'll be fine once you stop squeezin' my damn blood vessels," Austin huffed and pried Dez's hands off his shoulders.

"What the hell happened, man?" Nat asked.

Austin shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "That's what I'm here to talk about. Something attacked the boat and…"

"And? What was it?" Dez asked. "Was it an alligator?"

Austin shook his head again. "No. Far from it, actually."

Dez furrowed his eyebrows. "Then what? Shark?"

" _No_ ," Austin replied, rubbing a hand down his face. "Not a gator, not a shark, not a dang _kraken_ , though I feel _that_ would even make more sense."

Nat and Dez shared a bewildered look before looking back at Austin who was frowning and rubbing at his scar.

Austin looked up them. "I'm not exactly certain but the thing looked like a-"

"You absolute _idiot_!"

All three men turned at the sound of Ally's voice to take in the sight of her making her way out of the elevator, face flushed as she took long strides across the room, small fists clenched at her sides.

"Uhh," Nat said when he saw her fuming expression while Dez just watched with raised brows as she stomped towards the equally stumped blond.

"Nice to see you too, Ally Mar-"

 _SMACK!_

Austin's head snapped to the side as Nat and Dez's jaws dropped to the floor at the resounding slap across the blonds face.

"What the _fuck_ , Dawson?!" Austin snarled after righting himself from the force of the hit, stepping closer to the brunette and towering over her.

She looked up at him and clenched her jaw, bringing up her hands to shove at his chest.

"What the fuck with _you_ , Moon!"

" _What_?" Austin hissed in confusion, bringing his hand up to his stinging cheek. "What the hell are you goin' on about?"

"Jumping over-board? For what possible reason?" Ally spat out and Austin's hardened gaze dropped slightly, his hand coming off his cheek.

"Are you _stupid_?" Ally went on. "Could you not have _waited_ for the main boat to come and get you?! No! You had to be fucking over dramatic as usual and freaking jump _over_ -board and practically tell whatever was attacking the damn boat, 'Oh hey! Over here! Chow time!' You fucking idiot! What is _wrong_ with you?!"

She ended her rant with her chest heaving, her face flushed and her teeth gritted as the three stared at her, mouths hanging open.

Austin was the first to recover and he bit back a smirk, clearing his throat before speaking to Dez and Nat who were still gaping at Ally.

"Could we have a moment here, guys?" He asked, not taking his eyes away from the brunette.

Nat and Dez snapped out of their shock and took a step back.

"Uhh, yeah," Dez said.

"Sure," The shaken up Nat agreed and they both exited the lab, but not before glancing back one more time at the two.

Rubbing at his cheek, Austin stared down at Ally whose chest was still heaving.

"You're gonna need to apologize for that, Ally Marie," Austin drawled and Ally scoffed.

"Apologize? You deserved that. For your absolute _stupidity_!"

Austin exhaled and dropped his hand, shaking his head and allowing a chuckle to slip past his lips.

Just as Ally was about to cuss him out again and ask what was so funny; he beat her to it by informing, "Levi fell over-board."

Ally's mouth dropped open. "What? Oh my god, is he okay? Where is he?" The burning heat in her eyes now disappeared and gave way to worry and panic.

"He's _fine_. He would have made it back onto the boat by himself but his leash got caught on a rock. _That's_ why I jumped in," Austin said, sending Ally a pointed look. "It wasn't to just get to main boat."

Her tense demeanour changed then. Her shoulders relaxed, she unclenched her fists, and instead of gritting her teeth together; they were now taking her bottom lip captive as she sheepishly gnawed on it.

Austin raised a brow.

"Oh," Ally said after a few moments.

Austin's other brow went up. "'Oh'? No 'I'm sorry for slapping you for falsely believing you were being fucking _stupid_ '? None of that?" He prodded, stepping closer to her with every word.

"No. None of that," Ally grumbled. She wanted to give him another slap to get that annoying grin off his face.

"Well, too bad. I want one."

She turned away from him and rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'm sorry," Ally said. "I'm sorry that you can't handle a little pain."

She assumed that a little jab at his manhood would elicit a snarky remark from him but she was met with silence. Turning around, she took in his suddenly heated expression, any traces of teasing and humour now gone.

His eyes were dark and his jaw continuously flexed.

"You'd know better than anyone how accustomed I now am to _pain_ ," He hissed through gritted teeth.

Ally pursed her lips and sighed, shaking her head before making a move around him.

"I'm glad Levi's okay," She murmured on her way past him.

Before she could get any further, she felt him grip her upper arm, halting her movements. She snapped her head to his grip and tensed her muscles, shuddering at the sudden heat that emanated through her body.

"Were you worried?" Austin muttered lowly.

"What?" She asked, despite having heard him perfectly.

"When you heard I jumped over-board." He tugged on her arm so that she stood in front of him. He dipped his head down and brought his face inches from hers. Ally gulped.

"Were you worried about me, Ally Marie?"

Easing her arm out of his grip, Ally sighed and softly pushed on his chest.

"I have work to do, Austin. Were you able to get an alligator?"

Her professional stature and tone was back. Austin took a step back and pushed his hands into his pockets.

"Yeah. It's with Tucker. He'll be here soon."

"Good."

Austin's mind suddenly snapped to the realisation of why he rushed up here and he spun around, almost knocking Ally over with the movement.

"What th-"

"DEZ!" Austin called, not bothering to exit the lab and call him in like any normal person would have done

"That door is soundproof," Ally deadpanned.

Austin groaned. "Well, go get him!"

"Excuse me?" Ally raised her brows and Austin scoffed, pushing past her and heading to the door.

Just as he was about to open the door, it swung open, narrowly missing him as he jumped back just in time.

"Whoa," Dez said. "Sorry, I just wanted to know if you both are done he- Oh, okay! Pulling, pulling, pulling me where?" Dez rambled as Austin tugged him by the arm towards Ally who was watching the spectacle with raised brows.

"That thing that attacked the boat-"

"Just what I wanted to ask!" Dez cut in. "Flying hit? What does that mean? What'd it do to you?"

"Flying hit?" Ally asked, frowning while her eyes scanned the blond up and down as if they had a mind of their own, checking for any injuries.

"Look, I'm _fine_ ," Austin assured. "Just a small ache here and there."

"You should go to a-"

"Dez! I'm not going to a hospital-"

"You could have cracked your ribs, you idiot!" Ally exclaimed, causing Austin to glare at her.

"Worried?" He taunted and Ally bit her lip.

"Fuck you."

"We both know you'd love that, Ally Marie. Now, would ya'll _please_ listen to me?"

"Okay," Both replied simultaneously.

"Great," Austin exhaled and walked over to Dez's laptop. "Can I use this?" He asked as he opened up the web browser.

"You already are, so, _yes_ ," Dez mumbled sarcastically as he and Ally went over to stand next to Austin who typed out the name of an extinct reptile species in the search bar.

Ally and Dez shared a perplexed glance to one another but said nothing as Austin clicked on 'Images'

Enlarging one of the photos, Austin exhaled and leaned back, shaking his head.

"I knew there was no mistaking it. Fuckin' hell," He muttered and got off the seat, running his hands through his hair.

"First the dang Pterosaur and now _this_? Are you kidding me?"

Still looking at the image on the screen, Ally spoke. "So, are you saying…?"

"This is what attacked you guys?" Dez completed her unfinished question, turning to Austin who had his arms crossed over his chest as he bit his lip, leaning against a steel desk.

Austin shrugged and gave off a humourless chuckle filled with awe. "I don't see how I could mistake it. I s _aw_ the things head when it surfaced. _And_ those flippers. That was definitely it," He ended off by pointing at the screen.

Ally's eyes couldn't stray away from the picture on the screen.

 _How can this be?_

Granted, she now knows that Pterosaurs exist but _this_ too? What is going on?

When her eyes were finally able to move away from the image of the terrifying creature, they were then drawn to the name of it.

Liopleurodon.

 _Liopleurodon. Meaning "Smooth-sided Teeth"_

 _It was a large, fearsome and carnivorous reptile that prowled the ocean during the middle stage of the Jurassic Period._

 _It was said that they grew to around 21 feet, though there are studies that say there were some that grew even larger. (Close to 35 feet)_

Ally turned around.

"Dez?"

"Uh huh?" Dez answered in a daze.

"When can we leave for the island?"

* * *

 **When do they leave for the island you ask?... In the next chapter :D**

 ***Blood Moon will be updated next* I'll have the chapter up when I can, promise.**

 **Follow me on Instagram, if you'd like. I go by .riker (I have no idea whether my account name is gonna be displayed properly or not once I post this chapter. It keeps getting wiped out) If it doesn't come up; search diverge me riker with one dot after each of the three words.**

 **I post edits and stuff (Divergent, A &A, and R5) as well as updates on my stories.**

 **Love you guys.**

 **PEACE.**


	9. The Orca

**Alright, alright, ALRIGHT! What's up lovely Pack Buddies! I missed you guys! How are you all doing? How is the New Year going for all of you? How's school? How's work? How are your pets? Tell me everything :D**

 **Guys, Senior Year is done! We got our results a while back and let me tell you, HOLY FUCK. I know I might miss certain things about school but I am so bloody glad to be out of there.**

 **Oh that fuckin' hell hole!**

 **Anyway, I know this took a long time but it's here now and I hope you like it. They finally leave for the island in this chapter!**

 **I'm not doing replies right now, I'm sorry, but I promise I will reply in the next chapter as well as the next chapter of Blood Moon.**

 **Hope you like!**

 **Read on…**

* * *

 **Recap: R.D.J**

 **-The boat is attacked by a large sea creature and Levi falls over-board. His leash is lodged on an underwater rock, preventing him from swimming back to the boat.**

 **Austin jumps in after him but takes a hit upon heading back to the boat.**

 **-Back at GenRex, Austin -who refused to stop at a hospital for possible injuries to himself- filled Dez and Ally in on what had occurred and what he had seen out at sea.**

 **With all this information, Ally realizes how big this situation really is, and asks Dez when the expedition can happen.**

* * *

 **(Ally had also slapped Austin across the face… Just wanted to mention that in case you guys forgot and also because I loved writing that scene XD)**

* * *

 _Ally's eyes couldn't stray away from the picture on the screen._

 _How can this be?_

 _Granted, she now knows that Pterosaurs exist but this too? What is going on?_

 _When her eyes were finally able to move away from the image of the terrifying creature, they were then drawn to the name of it._

 _Liopleurodon._

 _ **Liopleurodon. Meaning "Smooth-sided Teeth"**_

 _ **It was a large, fearsome and carnivorous reptile that prowled the ocean during the middle stage of the Jurassic Period.**_

 _ **It was said that they grew to around 21 feet, though there are studies that say there were some that grew even larger. (Close to 35 feet)**_

 _Ally turned around._

" _Dez?"_

" _Uh huh?" Dez answered in a daze._

" _When can we leave for the island?"_

* * *

 _Two Weeks and Four Days Later…_

"What in the hell are you doin', Ally Marie?"

"He fell overboard the last time! Precautions need to be taken."

Austin shook his head at the sight before him. Ally was crouched down in front of Levi, wrapping a safety vest around his furry body. Levi, despite not understanding what was going on, stayed still and allowed the brunette to secure the strange covering around him.

"He can stay afloat on his own. He doesn't need that."

Yes, he does," Ally insisted. "It's safer."

Austin rolled his eyes. "He doesn't like feelin' restricted!"

Satisfied that the vest was on securely enough, Ally patted Levi on the head and stood up to face the blond.

"He doesn't seem to mind to me. He looks quite comfortable."

Austin looked at his canine companion and held back a laugh. Now that Ally was looking away from him, it seems as if he's taken the chance to tell Austin, 'Help. Get it off me.'

His puppy-dog eyes were on full display and his head was bent low, ears drooped down onto his skull.

Austin pursed his lips and sent a pointed look to Ally, raising a brow. "Get it off him."

"No."

"He doesn't like it!"

"He's fine with it!" Ally insisted and turned around, momentarily catching Levi's slumped form before he sat ramrod straight and wagged his tail in a seemingly happy gesture.

Ally's shoulders slumped. "Oh, Levi."

She heard Austin chuckle.

"Get that thing off my dog, Ally Marie. Dez wants us in the lab."

* * *

After getting the vest off a very grateful Levi, Ally tossed it into the SUV that would be taking them to the harbour and headed to the lab. They will be leaving in two hours, and even though there are still so many questions unanswered, Ally felt the best way to figure everything out was to set sail, and find the place.

Dez was ecstatic.

He knew that Austin and Ally were both the best options for finding the island, despite whatever differences they had.

Ally pushed the door to the lab open and almost ran smack dab into Nat who was on his way out.

"Oh, sorry, Ally." Nat grinned down at her and steadied her with two hands resting on her upper arms.

Ally blushed. "It's no problem, Nat. My fault," She muttered.

"Kinda is, you _did_ almost bash me with the door," The dark haired man teased, causing Ally to roll her eyes good naturedly and land a small smack on his arm.

"Too bad I missed," She teased back.

Over the past two weeks, Nat and Ally had become relatively closer. There had always been flirty encounters between the two but after Ally had mentioned that she would be leaving soon, it seemed that it sparked an up in their playful and flirty encounters.

They both stood smiling shyly at each other, forgetting that they each had something to do.

"If ya'll are just about done…"

Nat and Ally were snapped out of their stupor by Austin's voice.

The two looked towards him and was met with his seemingly impassive face, while Dez just stood with his arms crossed, a knowing smirk on his face.

"The gators need feeding, Nat," The blond continued.

"Oh yeah, right. Of course. I'll uhh, I'll get going," Nat stammered.

It wasn't often that Austin gave orders, but when he did, his handlers knew not to question him. Nat nodded at Austin and Dez before turning to Ally.

"Come see me before you leave?" He asked.

Ally raised her eyebrows for a fraction of a second before shaking off her surprise.

She nodded. "Sure."

Nat shot her one last smile before leaving the lab.

Ally bit back her smile and made her way down to Dez and Austin.

"Finally," Austin muttered.

Ally decided to ignore him, looking expectantly at Dez.

The red-head cleared his throat. "Yes, okay, now that we're all here…"

* * *

Ally stood in front of Nat, a slight blush lighting up her features. She had finished up in the lab with Dez and Austin and then told them that she'd join them at Dez's car soon.

Dez smirked while Austin had just snorted and moved away, muttering something about finding Levi.

"So… You're all ready to go huh?" Nat rocked back and forth on his heels, hands shoved into his pockets.

"Yeah, I guess. No turning back now," She said.

"I'll keep in touch with the boat. Plus, you guys are gonna have contact with Dez, right? I'd like to hear from you…both of you," He added as an afterthought.

Ally smiled shyly. "That sounds good. I'd like to hear from you too."

Nat gazed at her and pursed his lips. "Be careful, okay?"

"I will," Ally promised. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Well, I uhh, I better go."

"Wait!" Nat said when she made a move to turn around. Ally jumped at his outburst and raised her brows.

"Shit, sorry. Uhh, sorry," Nat stammered and ran a hand through his dark hair.

Ally pursed her lips, holding back a smile. "What is it?"

Nat ran a hand through his hair one more time before stepping forward, wrapping his arms around her petite body.

Ally was slightly taken aback by the sudden contact but regained her senses quickly, and she returned his embrace, standing on her tip-toes and resting her face against his shoulder.

"Good luck out there," He whispered into her ear. Ally held onto him tighter and smiled against his shoulder, mumbling, "Thanks, Nat. We'll be in touch."

The two held each other for a few more moments before a bark caused them to let go and to turn in the direction of the sound. Levi stood a few feet away, tail wagging and tongue lolling out of his mouth.

Behind him, stood Austin.

"We gotta go, Ally Marie," Austin said and walked forward as the two stepped away from each other.

"Right, of course," Nat nodded and cleared his throat.

Austin casually fitted himself between the two, taking Ally's place in front of Nat with a smile.

"You gonna be alright?" Austin asked as Ally huffed at his intrusion and sent Nat a goodbye glance over Austin's shoulder before moving to Levi.

Nat watched her for a second before looking back at Austin.

"I'll be a little lonely," He teased, "but I'll manage."

"I'm sure you will," Austin agreed and held his fist out for their usual greeting and parting gesture.

Nat smiled and bumped his fist to Austin's. "I don't want you to worry, alright? I'll take care of the gators."

Austin gave him a clap on the back. "I don't doubt that, man. I know you will."

"Good luck, bro. And, uhh," Nat gestured with his head to Ally who was crouched down, cooing and patting Levi, "don't kill each other, yeah?"

Austin swallowed and cleared his throat. "Yeah, no promises."

Nat rolled his eyes and laughed. "Be safe."

Austin gave him one more clap on the back and turned around, heading towards Ally and Levi. He remembered something and turned around, walking backwards.

"Don't take any crap from Sean," He called, referring to one of the more prideful and egotistical handlers, "you're in charge now."

Nat grinned and saluted. "I'll make you proud."

Austin laughed and saluted back, turning around once more.

* * *

The boat that Dez had arranged was prepped and ready to go, and the red-head was just about to ready to _push_ Ally into it.

The girl just wouldn't stop _talking_.

"I _promise_ , Ally, everything is under control!" Dez assured the antsy brunette.

"I hadn't even had any time to study the saltwater gator!" She whined and Austin-who was already on-board with Levi-rolled his eyes.

"Dawson, _you're_ the one who wanted to leave as soon as possible. Now get on the dang boat!" Austin cried in exasperation, tired of seeing her and Dez go back and forth.

As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. The moment Austin had alerted them of what attacked the boat, she was thoroughly intrigued, knowing that this could be a huge discovery.

In just over two weeks; everything had been arranged and they were ready to go.

"Fine, fine, keep your pants on, Moon."

"As if I'd take 'em off for you," Austin grunted.

"You really wanna go there right now?" Ally snapped and behind her, Dez rolled his eyes at the pair.

"Oh, _shut up_ , both of you. You're gonna learn to get along whether you like it or not so get used to each other. You both are gonna have to work together," Dez lectured as they both huffed and rolled their eyes, all the while Levi stood looking at them, head cocked to the side.

"Now remember," Dez reminded, "we're not taking any chances with this after what happened. This boat will only get you guys so far until you reach _The Orca_."

 _The Orca_ was a mighty fine boat. A stunning RV (Research Vessel) that had taken Dez on many trips across the ocean on research. It was sturdy, well equipped, and fitted with everything he would ever need.

Honestly though, it was more of a luxury yacht than anything. Dez loved it. The only thing he wasn't too fond of was the Captain of the vessel…

He constantly finds himself getting in between Austin and Ally to avoid the both of them murdering each other, though he feels that if he manages to somehow set the fiery Captain off, they would be getting in between him and said Captain.

"We're talkin' about a twenty five, maybe more, foot sea monster," Austin piped up. "How are you sure that the boat can handle an attack from that?"

Dez shook his head and huffed. "Oh _believe_ me, that hulking mass of a vessel could stave off an attack from a _Megalodon_ -"

"No, no, no, no, NO!" Ally cut in frantically. "Liopleurodon is quite enough. Don't go mentioning any other sea predators. No matter how gorgeous they all are."

"I'll agree with her on that. We've got our plates full as it is with that creature prowling the deep," Austin muttered. "But, whatever, man. If you're sure that boat is safe for us to get on-"

"I am. I would never send my best employees out to sea on any old death trap. This yacht is gonna be what's best," Dez assured confidently.

The four stood in silence for a few moments before it was broken by Ally.

"Okay, well, I guess we better be going."

Dez stepped forward and took the brunette into his arms.

"Go find me an island, Allyson. And keep that man in check," Dez whispered and Ally rolled her eyes before they stepped away from each other.

She smiled warmly at her boss.

"I'll do my best."

Austin then stepped forward and shook Dez's hand.

"Make me proud, Austin. I hired you for a reason."

Austin chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, that reason was to train gators. I don't believe _this_ right here was in the job description," He joked.

Dez laughed. " _This_ right here is where your true talent comes into play, Austin. If anyone can survive out there, it's you."

Austin smiled and stepped back while Dez crouched down, prompting Levi to come to him.

He scratched the German Shepherd lightly behind the ears.

"Take care of them," Dez said and stood up straight.

"Remember, I'll only be in contact with you guys once you get onto _The Orca_. You'll be set up with whatever communication devices you'll need on the island."

With one last wave, Dez stepped back onto the dock and Austin circled the deck, entering the cabin where the centre console was located.

"Ready, Ally Marie?" Austin asked without looking at the brunette.

"Ready," She muttered, already feeling the thickness surrounding them at being alone with each other.

"Alright then," Austin said, pushing down on the lever.

The boat engine revved and took off smoothly.

They were off…

* * *

The short ride to _The Orca_ was spent in relative silence apart from the rush of the waves on the side of the boat and Levi's panting. The two people were both consumed in their own thoughts, both not at all ready to spend an unknown amount of time together on an island that hasn't really been confirmed of existence.

Upon seeing the 130 foot vessel in the distance, Levi barked excitedly and ran to the edge of the boat, propping himself up on the railing with his two front paws.

"Careful, Levi," Austin called. He was still on edge from Levi falling overboard the last time they were out at sea, and the memory of it always made his stomach churn.

"Wow," Ally breathed upon seeing it. "That's a nice yacht."

"Hmm," Austin agreed and brought the bay boat to a stop.

The large vessel inched closer and closer to them until it was just a few feet away, towering over them and casting a shadow over the smaller vessel.

A man poked his head down at them, smiling brightly.

Even from down below, Austin could recognise that energetic twinkle in the man's eyes, along with his light brown hair.

"What in the hell? Nox?" Austin yelled in surprise, looking up at the man who was still grinning from ear to ear.

"That's me. How's it going, cowboy? You good?"

Austin shook his head in confusion. "Uhh, yeah. I'm good."

"That's good. That's really good. Obviously you're good. I mean, that sea monster thing didn't kill you so that's good," Nox said and nodded his head, pitching a thumbs up.

Ally tilted her head at the man in amusement, the corners of her lips twitching up.

Seemingly only coming to the realisation now that there was someone else with Austin, Nox waved enthusiastically.

"And who is that beautiful creature?" He asked and flourished his hands at Ally in an overly dramatic gesture before laying his head onto his palm, gazing at her while stroking his goatee.

Ally raised her brows and laughed, waving up at him.

Austin scoffed.

"Who? This?" He gestured to Levi and the canine bounded over to his side, also looking up at Nox. "This is Levi. Surely you remember him," Austin said in a teasing lilt, side glancing at Ally who rolled her eyes at him.

Not fazed by the exchange in the least, Nox shook his head. "No, no, no, not _that_ beautiful creature. That lovely lady right there," He gestured to Ally in yet another overly dramatic fashion.

Ally was about to call out her name when she was interrupted by the blond next to her.

"We can exchange pleasantries once we're on-board. Now how do we get up there?" Austin asked, seeing as he couldn't locate a means of getting up.

Nox perked up and -no joke- actually jumped and clapped his hands together once in excitement.

"Oh yeah! Man, this is _so_ cool, wait till you see!"

He ran out of sight of the three on the bay boat but as quick as he left, he returned, looking down at them.

"Oh! You're gonna wanna manoeuvre the boat behind us. Just keep about two meters or so between."

And then he was gone again, leaving Ally with her eyebrows raised, Levi's head tilted, and Austin shaking his head, already used to the antics of the man despite not knowing him for too long.

Austin did as Nox said, making sure to leave some space between the boat and _The Orca_.

"Alright, watch this!" Nox called from somewhere on the yacht.

Right before their eyes, a back portion of _The Orca_ began to unravel.

"What?" Ally muttered in shock.

Levi jumped at the mechanic sounds and barked at the sight of the large contraption unveiling itself and reaching towards them.

Austin raised his brows when he noticed that the flat looking platform was now beginning to dip in places, creating… stairs?

Yes, definitely stairs.

"Well, dang."

The stairs continued to form and the last one came to a stop just above the water's surface.

"At night they light up so there's no worry of falling over-board," Nox informed excitedly. "Now how 'bout you help the lovely lady over the bow, cowboy. Don't drop her," He teased.

Ally scoffed. "He'd want to," She mumbled and made a move towards the edge of the front of the boat to help herself onto the stairs.

Austin glanced at her and made his way back into the cabin, steering the boat sideways so that the little flap-door on the side was aligned with the first step.

"This is easier. Ladies first," He muttered and opened the door, gesturing towards the stairs.

"Courteous!" Nox commented and threw his hands up. "That's how you treat a woman."

Both Austin and Ally rolled their eyes.

"Go on, Ally Marie. I ain't gonna push you," Austin muttered lowly so that Nox wouldn't hear.

"You're tempted though, aren't you?" Ally mumbled and not waiting for an answer, she stepped carefully onto the first step and made her way up.

Austin watched her go and tore his gaze away from her behind, clearing his throat and shaking his head.

Ally got to the top and gasped. The yacht was beautiful. A wide expanse of space was before her, stretching up to a section that supported a middle and upper deck.

A few crew members bustled about, some giving her polite smiles while others smiled politely but suggestively. She rolled her eyes at this.

Nox turned around briefly and caught those few glances. He pointed threateningly at them. "Calm down, you animals! I will hose you!"

Ally laughed at his words and shook her head.

At the bottom, Austin heard the outburst and scoffed, knowing exactly what it was about.

"Go on, bud," He said to Levi and tipped his head up the stairs. The black German Shepherd stepped up and sniffed the platform before trotting up slowly, cautiously looking from side to side at the water on each end.

"No worries, bro-dog. I will see to it that you stay on-board this time! I promise!" Nox said and crouched down to Levi when he made his way onto the deck.

"Nox!" Austin called from the bottom. "What about the bay boat?"

Nox patted Levi on the head and stood up, looking down at Austin.

"You come on up, man. One of the guys are gonna take it back after getting everything off," He informed and moved to stand next to Ally.

With another exaggerated flourish, he swept his arm out and bowed.

"May I now have the pleasure of knowing your name, Miss…?"

"Dawson," Ally replied with a chuckle. "Ally Marie Dawson." She took his outstretched hand and shook it.

"Ally Marie Dawson!" Nox yelled. "Beautiful!" He commented and clasped her hand in both of his, giving it a friendly squeeze before letting go and standing upright.

Austin emerged from the bottom of the stairs and rolled his eyes when he caught the hand clasp and compliment from Nox to Ally.

He and Levi walked over to them while taking in the impressive aesthetics and overall impressiveness of _The Orca_.

"Nice. Real nice," Austin commented.

"I know!" Nox breathed. "She's a sexy beast!"

"That she is," Austin agreed. "Now, uhh, How come you're here, man?"

Nox laughed. "I'm good friends with the Captain. Sometimes I just like a little change from a little fishing boat so I offer my assistance here. Kinda in the lap of luxury on-board here."

Austin nodded. "Ah."

"So, where do we go from here?" Ally asked.

Nox twirled -yes- _twirled_ around and waved at them to follow him.

"Now, I give you a tour! Let's go! The master bedroom has been reserved for the both of you. Your belongings and everything will be brought up shortly."

"We don't get our own room?" Austin asked, eyebrows raised while Ally wondered the same thing.

"Mr Worthy insisted that you both share a room. Said something about it being easier to work on findings or whatever," Nox replied.

"Of course he did," Ally muttered, rolling her eyes.

"It's a pretty big room and there's a sleeper couch. Though, the bed _is_ big enough for two." Nox winked at the pair suggestively.

Austin snorted. "What say, Ally Marie?" He asked when Nox was a few feet ahead of them.

"Yeah, no," She scoffed. "I'd be more comfortable on a lifeboat out at sea."

"Go up to the edge of the boat over there and I can arrange that," Austin said, gesturing to the far side of the yacht where an orange lifeboat was mounted to a white wooden platform.

Ally flipped him off and followed Nox down to the lower deck, a smirking Austin trailing behind.

* * *

"Oh wow," Ally breathed. "This is gorgeous."

"Right?!" Nox agreed from the doorway.

The cabin that they were currently in on the lowest deck which housed the master bedroom was amazing.

A writing area was set to the side in front of two windows that were at base level with the water outside. Mounted on the white tiled walls, two lovely dimly lit lamps flanked the desk on either side.

"That writing area doubles as a vanity," Nox informed, walking over to the desk. Ally watched as he pushed a button under the futon in front of the desk that unravelled upwards, revealing a large mirror with LED lights on each end.

Ally raised her brows. "Nice."

"I know!" Nox gushed excitedly.

The king sized bed that was pushed against the wall on the head side seemed dwarfed in the large room. Atop the bed, hung a painting of what looked to be a pod of sperm whales breaching the surface of the sea.

Ally briefly thought of _Moby Dick._

A few feet away from the bed, set to the corner of the room next to two more windows that were at water level, was a comfy looking sitting area. The sofas were set in a U design, resting against the wall. A circular coffee table was set in front of the cream coloured one-seaters that had plush cushions decorating them.

 _Is this really a research vessel?_ Austin wondered as he took in the room from the doorway, Levi sat on his haunches at his side.

Nox flopped himself down onto one of the sofas and pointed to a door that was fitted into the wall, making it look more like a painting than a door.

"Those are master closets, lots of space. Just be careful though, make sure to always have it open when you're in there. It locks from the outside. And over there," He pointed across the room, "is a TV. It comes straight up outta that console."

Along with Ally's, Austin's brows arched.

"Blu-Ray _and_ DVD. Alright!" He jumped off the sofa and waved his hands for them to follow him.

"Master bathroom, open floor plan, really nice."

Austin bit back a chuckle. Nox sounded as if he was making a sale.

Peeking into the bathroom, their eyebrows yet again rose. The open floor plan was a deft use of square footage. Above the golden brown granite vanity, a double mirror was mounted to the wall. The basin on the countertop was of a circular shape, clear acrylic. Sleek and shiny taps topped it off.

The shower doors were see through, and the actual shower stall itself looked as if it could fit at least twelve people comfortably.

Nox made his way out, saying something about showing them the main room.

Austin was about to follow but hung back when he noticed Ally still looking around, particularly at the shower.

He inched up behind her and brought his mouth at level with her ear.

Ally felt his close proximity and tensed her muscles, feeling warmth rush throughout her body.

"Ain't that a gorgeous shower, Ally Marie?" He whispered.

Ally flexed her jaw and exhaled. "Very," She answered tightly.

"Bet it'd look better with the doors all steamed up nice and hot."

Ally twisted around and took a step back, glaring at him heatedly.

Austin smirked. "Somethin' wrong?"

Ally narrowed her eyes at him and spoke through her teeth. "No."

A thought occurred to her then. She closed the distance between them and leaned up to his ear, her mouth curling into a smirk of her own. "Everything's…. _purr_ -fect."

Austin's smirk dropped and his eyes widened a fraction, his jaw clenching.

Before he had a chance to say anything, though he wasn't sure he could, given where his mind was, Ally had already exited the bathroom to catch up with Nox.

He stood frozen, his hands balled into tight fists as torturous, wonderful, and downright _sinful_ thoughts raced around in his mind.

Levi looked up at him and whined.

The sound broke Austin out of his stupor and he shook his head, looking down at the befuddled gaze of his furry companion.

Levi cocked his head to the side.

Austin cleared his throat and ruffled the fur on Levi's head.

"Let's go, buddy."

He and Levi quickly caught up with Ally and Nox just as they were about to head into what Nox said was the main salon.

It was, like everything else on this boat, huge and luxurious.

"So, this is pretty much the entertainment room where everyone hangs around. Honestly, my favourite room on this entire lap of _absolute_ luxury." To further enunciate his words, Nox leaned down onto a couch and caressed it.

"I like leather," He stated.

Austin shook his head while Ally chuckled.

The man certainly was a character.

As they looked around the big room, Ally noticed that Austin kept his distance from her further than usual.

She smirked. _Good._

Nestled into the corner of the room, was a sitting area much larger than the one in the master bedroom. The couches were genuine leather and a shiny dark brown. In front of the couches was a flat screen TV with a built in DVD player and stereo.

 _Research vessel?_ Ally thought. _This thing doubles as a vacation home._

An oval shaped glass table took up the centre of the room. It rested on a fluffy grey rug.

Levi was currently nuzzling into it.

"Bro-dog likes this room as much as me," Nox grinned when he saw Levi flop onto his back on the comfy rug.

Connected to the main salon, was a galley. It was stocked with everything you would need in a kitchen and more. A large, flat, cream coloured countertop made of granite dominated a great deal of the space, but left plenty more to move around comfortably.

A fully stocked fridge was set at the far corner. It was tall and could actually be mistaken as a wooden cupboard until opened.

"I wanna show you guys the sky lounge," Nox said. "Come on."

The three followed him up a swirling staircase that led to a cozy, but spacious room that was on the topmost deck. This one also contained a sitting area but one that was relatively smaller.

"Just a little room to unwind and get some air," Nox said. "It leads out to the deck. It's great out there," He gestured to a pair of sliding glass doors.

"There's actually quite a bit more to see but I think I'll take you guys to meet the Captain now. What you say?"

The pair nodded.

"Sounds great," Austin said.

They were led back outside to the middle deck only to hear an angry voice, shooting off at one of the poor crew members.

"…-you absolute _DOOF_! Do you think I'm running some sort of arcade here?! Stop playing games and do your job you lousy little rat!"

Levi's ears were perked up in alarm while Austin and Ally's eyes widened, taking in the loud and domineering voice.

Nox chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head. "That would be our Captain. She's a little, uhh, fiery, I guess."

Austin and Ally watched as the unlucky crew member scuttled off quickly. If he was a dog, he'd have his ears drooped and tail tucked between his legs.

A short woman exited the cabin that housed most of the controls to the boat. She caught sight of the three new passengers and made her way down. Her hair was dark and curly, and despite her small and short stature; her facial features practically oozed leadership with a look that screamed 'I don't take any bullshit from anyone'

Austin and Ally stood up straighter and gulped when she got to them.

The Latina Captain glanced at Levi and then looked at both of them, offering a firm handshake to Ally and then to Austin before introducing herself.

"Trish Dela Rosa, Captain of this vessel."

* * *

 **A lot of you guys have asked about our favourite fiery Latina and I said that I needed to find a good role for her and this is what I chose! Captain of** _ **The Orca**_ **! What do you think? Was it a good move? Let me know.**

 **So, I'm leaving for Kruger National Park on Thursday (Fuck, I'm so excited!) for about four days so I won't be starting up a chapter for Blood Moon immediately but I promise I will get on with it once I get back home :)**

 **By the way, what do you guys think of Nox? I liked writing him in the previous chapter and felt like bringing him back. Let me know what you think of him.**

 **Follow me on Instagram – divergemeriker**

 **PM me if you'd like to follow my personal. I follow back on that account.**

 **Alright, please do leave me your thoughts on this chapter. All of your reviews mean a lot to me :)**

 **Oh! Who's excited about Fifty Shades Darker?! Bloody fuck, that movie is gonna slay me, I just know it. I can't wait!**

 **Anyway, okay, that's it for now.**

 **I love you guys!**

 **PEACE.**

 **-Wolf**


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